Position of the disastrous 1999 Puebla earthquake in the seismotectonic pattern of Mexico

The location of the 1999 Puebla earthquake shows that this earthquake belon gs to the class of disastrous intraplate earthquakes generated by fracturin g of the continental lithosphere caused by the process of subduction. This is obvious from the vertical section across the Middle American Wadati-Beni off zone and from its position in the revised seismically active Los Azufre s-Rio Salado fracture zone delineated in the continental lithosphere of the North American plate.