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We present a fresh look at the source region of the 22 January 2003 M 7.4 Armería earthquake, which occurred off the Pacific coast of the state of Colima, Mexico, near the town of Armería. The effects of this earthquake in the neighboring states of Colima and Jalisco were different and stronger than those of previous recent major earthquakes in the region. This earthquake and its aftershocks were recorded by two local telemetered seismograph networks (RESCO and RESJAL). From 22 January to 24 January 2003, no important seismicity was located on the plates interface, or within the Rivera Plate, and most epicenters were located west of the Armería River, which is the western border of the Colima Graben, and is located outside of the Colima Gap region. From 24 January to 31 January, the seismicity recorded by both networks showed a migration in depth, with an almost vertical offshore distribution between 4 and 24 km in depth. For this period, a seven-station portable digital seismograph network, equipped with three-component seismometers, was deployed in the epicentral area to study the aftershock sequence in detail. With this denser network more than 200 M > 2.0 aftershocks were recorded. The aftershock foci were deeper than those recorded during the early period and most of them locate on a hypothetical 12° dipping interface between the Rivera and North American Plates. Composite focal mechanism solutions for the aftershocks located during both periods indicate a reverse fault character that changes with time. Analysis of the new dataset still indicates that the earthquake was a shallow intraplate event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For long time the western-central Mexico has been affected by oblique subduction caused by Farallon plate beneath North America. As result, smaller plates (e.g. Cocos Plate), several fault systems outlining crustal blocks (e.g. Michoacán block) and magmatic arcs (e.g. Paleocene-Early Oligocene magmatism and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt) were developed. Still, no paleomagnetic data are available for Oligocene and Miocene. The principal aim of this study is to evaluate whether the tectonic rotations and relative motions of these blocks occurred before the Miocene. Here, we report a detailed rock-magnetic and paleomagnetic results from Tecalitlan area, located in the Michoacán block. Sixteen sites (about 150 oriented samples) were collected including one radiometrically dated diabase dike (35.0 ± 1.8 Ma). Rock-magnetic experiments permitted identification of magnetic carriers and assessment of the paleomagnetic stability. Continuous susceptibility measurements vs temperature in most cases yield reasonably reversible curves with Curie points close to that of magnetite. Reliable paleomagnetic directions were obtained for 12 sites. Inclination I and declination D of the mean paleomagnetic direction obtained in this study are I = 33.1°, D = 345.0°, and Fisherian statistical parameters are k = 25, α = 8.9°. The corresponding mean paleomagnetic pole position is P = 75.7°, P = 166.6°, K = 31, A = 8.0°. The mean inclination is in reasonably good agreement with the expected value, as derived from reference poles for the stable North America. Magnetic declination is not significantly different from that expected which is in disagreement with a counterclockwise tectonic rotation of about 20° previously reported for the studied area. Based on paleomagnetic results obtained in this study compiled with those currently available from the Michoacán Block, we propose a simple model suggesting that sometime in Eocene epoch the convergence vector of the Farallon plate relative to North America plate was normal to the trench before reaching an actual oblique convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]