The 1575 Valdivia earthquake occurred at 14:30 local time on December 16. It had an estimated magnitude of 8.5 of on the

surface wave magnitude The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This ma ...

scale and an estimated magnitude of 9.0+ on the

Moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

and led to the

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

Valdivia, Chile Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau ...

Pedro Mariño de Lobera Pedro Mariño de Lobera (1528–1594) was a Galician soldier, conquistador and chronicler of the Arauco War in the Captaincy General of Chile. Biography A professional soldier who served in the war between Spain and France, he went to the Americ ...

, who was

corregidor Corregidor ( tl, Pulo ng Corregidor, ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of the Province of Cavite. Due to this location, Corregidor has historically b ...

of Valdivia by that time, wrote that the waters of the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

opened like the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

, one part flowing upstream and one downstream. Mariño de Lobera also evacuated the city until the

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

at ''Laguna de Anigua'' (nowadays

Riñihue Lake The Riñihue Lake ( es, Lago Riñihue ) is a lake of glacial origin in eastern Valdivia Province, southern Chile. It is surrounded by several mountains. The eastern side receives the waters of the Panguipulli Lake by the Enco River, its main con ...

) burst. At that moment he wrote that, while many Native people died, no Spaniards did, as the settlement of Valdivia was moved temporarily away from the riverside. The effects of this earthquake are similar to the

1960 Valdivia earthquake The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami ( es, link=no, Terremoto de Valdivia) or the Great Chilean earthquake (''Gran terremoto de Chile'') on 22 May 1960 was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Various studies have placed it at 9.4– ...

, the largest ever recorded on earth, which also caused ensuing

Riñihuazo The Riñihuazo is the name given to the landslide damming of Riñihue Lake on 22 May 1960, after a landslide caused by the Great Chilean earthquake blocked its outflow. According to the chronicler Mariño de Lobera a similar event occurred afte ...

flooding. These similarities show that large earthquakes have a pattern that span over several centuries.

References

External links

Epicenter of 1575 Valdivia earthquake , earthquake epicenter- wikimapia.com
1575 Valdivia earthquake 16th-century earthquakes 1575 in the Captaincy General of Chile 1575 Valdivia earthquake 1575 in science 1570s in the Viceroyalty of Peru {{SouthAm-earthquake-stub

See also

References

External links