The 1586 Lima–Callao earthquake () occurred on July 9 along the coast of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

, near the capital

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

. A section of the

Peruvian Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest of Peru, Spanish conquest in th ...

coast, stretching from Caravelí to Trujillo, north to south, was decimated by the

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

. Major destruction occurred in the capital city Lima as well. The estimated

moment magnitude 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 ...

() 8.1 earthquake triggered a locally damaging

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

up to . This was the first major earthquake to strike the city of Lima since its establishment in 1535.

Tectonic setting

The coast of Peru lies a 7,000-km-long

convergent boundary A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can be defined by a ...

where the oceanic Nazca Plate subducts or dives beneath the continental South American Plate. The

Peru–Chile trench The Peru–Chile Trench, also known as the Atacama Trench, is an oceanic trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about off the coast of Peru and Chile. It reaches a maximum depth of below sea level in Richards Deep () and is approximately long; ...

marks the location where the two plates meet and converge. Subduction at the plate boundary rate varies throughout the 7,000 km length, at 65 mm/yr towards the north, and up to 80 mm/yr in the south. The presence of active subduction can produce large earthquakes when elastic energy along the plate boundary (megathrust) is released suddenly after decades or centuries of accumulated strain. Earthquakes rupturing the megathrust are known as megathrust earthquakes; capable of generating

tsunamis A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater expl ...

when there is sufficient and sudden uplift of the seafloor, in turn lead to the sudden displacement of the sea.

Descriptions

The shock from the quake was felt at 19:00

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

on July 9, a

Wednesday Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In countries which have Friday as their holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. In countrie ...

. The shock was accompanied by loud noises which frightened many residents, driving them out of their homes. Most residents were able to evacuate in time during the earthquake, such that the death toll was small, although there were many individuals that suffered injuries. When the quake struck, many of the residents were already out in the streets or gardens where they were safe from collapses. Damage and effects from the earthquake occurred over a 1,000 km stretch by 120 km wide area near the coast. THe earthquake was also felt in the cities Cusco and

Huánuco Huánuco (; qu, Wanuku) is a city in central Peru. It had a population of 196,627 as of 2017 and in 2015 it had a population of 175,068. It is the capital of the Huánuco Region and the Huánuco District. It is the seat of the diocese of Hu ...

. The earthquake reportedly collaped the towers of a cathedral in the city of Lima. Significant rockslides occurred at Cerro San Cristobal ( es) in the

Rímac District Rímac is a district in the Lima Province, Peru. It lies directly to the north of downtown Lima, to which it is connected by six bridges over the Rímac River. The district also borders the Independencia, San Martín de Porres, and San Juan de ...

Lima Province Lima Province is located in the central coast of Peru and is the only province in the country not belonging to any of the twenty-five regions. Its capital is Lima, which is also the nation's capital. Despite its small area, this province is the ...

. The earthquake also severely damaged the residence of Fernando Torres de Portugal y Mesía, the then

viceroy of Peru The viceroys of Peru ruled the Viceroyalty of Peru from 1544 to 1824 in the name of the monarch of Spain. The territories under ''de jure'' rule by the viceroys included in the 16th and 17th century almost all of South America except eastern Braz ...

. Ground fissures formed in the city when the shaking was ongoing. The associated tsunami was documented by the viceroy of Peru in which he said the waves picked up and smashed homes, and inundated up to 250 meters inland. Even when the waves retreated, the some parts of the city was so severely flooded that it was impossible to ride a horse through. At Callao, the earthquake and tsunami destroyed many docks and warehouses. Ships were dragged far inland during the tsunami inundation. Many trees and bushes were uprooted from the ground and deposited far inland by the tsunami.

Earthquake characteristics

The 1586 earthquake ruptured a 175-km-long section of the Peru-Chile subduction zone, similar in size to the 1974 earthquake. The shock had an estimated

() of 8.1, and a tsunami magnitude () of 8.5.

Tsunami

Older descriptions of the tsunami having a height of 24 to 26 meters have been debunked and concluded as exaggerations. A more accurate height of the tsunami has been estimated at 5 meters. The tsunami was also confused as being an orphan tsunami reported along Japan's Sanriku coast due to erroneous cataloging of historical tsunamis, which also led to the confusion that it was from the

1586 Tenshō earthquake The was a regional Japanese earthquake that occurred on January 18, 1586 at 23:00 local time. This earthquake had an estimated of 7.9, and an epicenter in Honshu's Chūbu region. It caused the deaths of at least 8,000 people and damaged 10,000 ...

; a large Japanese earthquake. The presence of a tsunami at the Sanriku coast however, was reported in June 1585, now thought to be from the

1585 Aleutian Islands earthquake The 1585 Aleutian Islands earthquake is the source of a vaguely–described tsunami along the Sanriku coast of Japan on June 11, 1585. The event was misdated to 1586 and thought to be generated by the 1586 Lima–Callao earthquake. The misdating ...

. At a monument in Tokura village near the Sanriku coast in Miyagi Prefecture, a stone monument stated that a tsunami between 1 and 2 meters in height struck the coast; the tsunami has been inferred to be of the 1585 event. Modelling of the tsunami from the 1586 earthquake in Peru suggest the tsunami was approximately 6 cm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1586 Lima-Callao earthquake 1586 in South America Megathrust earthquakes in Peru Tsunamis in Peru 16th-century earthquakes 1586 in science 1586 in the Spanish Empire History of Lima 16th-century floods

Tectonic setting

Descriptions

Earthquake characteristics

Tsunami

See also

References