SILVA, R., CARMO, R., MARQUES, R. (2020) - Characterization of the tectonic origins of historical and modern seismic events and their societal impact on the Azores Archipelago, Portugal. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 501, doi: 10.1144/SP501-2019-106.​

​The Azores archipelago is located in the North Atlantic Ocean and consists of nine volcanic islands distributed along a general WNW-ESE trend, crossing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) in the zone where three lithospheric plates (Eurasian, Nubian and North American plates) come across. To the west of the MAR, at the North American plate, Corvo and Flores islands emerge from a present-day relatively stable geological setting, while the other islands are located in an important seismically and volcanically active zone corresponding to the boundary between the Eurasian and Nubian tectonic plates. Since the settlement of the Azores archipelago, in the mid-fifteenth century, several destructive earthquakes, such as the 1522 earthquake that affected severely São Miguel Island, and seismic crises, with a significant destructive impact, have affected the region with intensities up to X (EMS-98). The location of such events, either inland or offshore, is mainly related to the WNW-ESE structural system that extends from the MAR to Gloria Fault (GF). The instrumental seismic activity registered since 1997 allowed to improve the characterization of the present-day boundary between the Eurasian and Nubian plates.​