1877 Iquique earthquake: Difference between revisions
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| UTC time | ?? |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 8.8 Magnitude Mw |
| Epicenter | 19°36′S 70°12′W / 19.6°S 70.2°W |
| Areas affected | Peru, Tarapacá Region and Bolivia, Antofagasta Region (both now part of Chile) |
| Tsunami | Yes |
| Casualties | 2,541 |
The 1877 Iquique earthquake occurred at 21:16 local time on 9 May (0:59 on 10 May UTC). It had a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale[1] and a maximum felt intensity of XI (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale[2] and triggered a devastating tsunami. A total of 2,541 people died, mainly in Peru and northernmost Chile, with some deaths also reported from Hawaii and Japan.
Tectonic setting
Coastal regions of Peru and Chile lie above the convergent boundary, where the Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the South American Plate along the line of the Peru-Chile Trench. The rate of convergence across this boundary is measured at about 8 cm/yr. This boundary has been the site of many great megathrust earthquakes, in addition to events caused by faulting within both the subducting and over-riding plates.[1]
Damage
The earthquake. At Arica, the waves moved the hulk of the U.S. gunboat Wateree, which had been beached hundreds of metres inland by the final wave of the tsunami triggered by the 1868 Arica earthquake, several kilometres to the north along the coast and nearer the shoreline.[3] The tsunami caused 5 deaths in Hilo, Hawaii where 37 houses were destroyed. In Japan, on the Boso Peninsula, many deaths were recorded.[4]
Characteristics
Earthquake
The shaking lasted for five minutes at Caleta Pabellón de Pica, a coastal town 70 km south of Iquique. The area of felt intensity of VIII on the Mercalli intensity scale or greater extended from about 50 km south of Arica to just south of Cobija. This indicates a rupture length of about 420 km.[5]
Tsunami
The tsunami affected the coasts of Peru and what is now northern Chile and was observed across the Pacific Ocean, in Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Hawaii, Mexico, California and Japan.[4]
Future earthquake hazard
The rupture area of the 1877 earthquake has been recognised as one of the major seismic gaps on the plate boundary, known as the "Northern Chile Seismic Gap". The Mw = 7.7 2007 Tocopilla earthquake occurred at the southern edge of the gap, but is not considered to have necessarily reduced the risk of a great megathrust earthquake within this area.[1] A recurrence period of 135 years has been estimated for great earthquakes along this part of the plate boundary, suggesting that a similar earthquake to the 1877 event is possible in the near future.[6]
References
- ^ a b c Delouis, B. (2009). "The Mw 7.7 Tocopilla Earthquake of 14 November 2007 at the Southern Edge of the Northern Chile Seismic Gap: Rupture in the Deep Part of the Coupled Plate Interface" (PDF). Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 99 (1): 87–94. doi:10.1785/0120080192.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ NGDC. "Comments for the Significant Earthquake". Retrieved 1 January 2011.
- ^ Kovach, R.L. (2004). Early earthquakes of the Americas. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780521824897.
- ^ a b NGDC. "Tsunami Runups". Retrieved 31 December 2010.
- ^ Comte, D. (1991). "Reappraisal of Great Historical Earthquakes in the Northern Chile and Southern Peru Seismic Gaps" (PDF). Natural Hazards. 4: 23–44. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Zamudio, Y. (2005). "Seismic hazard assessment in the Peru-Chile border region" (PDF). 6th International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics (ISAG 2005, Barcelona), Extended Abstracts. pp. 813–816. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)