The 1906 Ecuador–Colombia earthquake occurred at 10:36:10 (
UTC+5
UTC+05:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +05:00. This time is used in:
As standard time (Northern Hemisphere winter)
''Principal cities: Islamabad, Karachi''
South Asia
*Pakistan - Time in Pakistan
As standard time (year-ro ...
) on Wednesday January 31, 1906 off the coast of
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
, near
Esmeraldas. 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, from ...
had a
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 ...
of 8.8 and triggered a destructive
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 explo ...
that caused at least 500 casualties on the coast of
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
.
Tectonic setting
The earthquake occurred along the boundary between the
Malpelo Plate
The Malpelo Plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located off the coasts west of Ecuador and Colombia. It is the 57th plate to be identified. It is named after Malpelo Island, the only emerged part of the plate. It is bounded on the west ...
, formerly considered the northeastern part of the
Nazca Plate, and the
North Andes Plate. The earthquake is likely to be a result of
thrust-faulting, caused by the
subduction
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
of the
Coiba
Coiba is the largest island in Central America, with an area of , off the Pacific coast of the Panamanian province of Chiriquí. It is part of the Tolé District of that province.
History
Coiba separated from continental Panama about 12,000 to ...
, Malpelo and Nazca Plates beneath the North Andes and South American Plates. The coastal parts of Ecuador and Colombia have a history of strong
megathrust earthquake
Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthqu ...
s originating from this Malpelo-North Andes plate boundary.
Damage
The greatest damage from the tsunami occurred on the coast between
Río Verde, Ecuador and Micay, Colombia. Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the tsunami vary between 500 and 1,500.
Characteristics
Earthquake
The rupture zone for this earthquake was long, and encompassed those for the earthquakes of
1942 (=7.8),
1958 (=7.7) and
1979 (=8.2). The lack of overlap between the three more recent events suggest the presence of minor barriers to rupture propagation along the plate boundary.
Although these three events ruptured the same area of the plate boundary overall, they released only a small fraction of the energy of the 1906 earthquake.
Tsunami
The maximum recorded run-up height was in
Tumaco
Tumaco is a port city and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia, by the Pacific Ocean. It is located on the southwestern corner of Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, and experiences a hot tropical climate. Tumaco is inhabited mai ...
, Colombia. At
Hilo,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
a run-up height was recorded for this event. The tsunami was also noted in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
,
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Future seismic hazard
Because the sequence of three earthquakes that ended in 1979 did not release as much energy as the 1906 event, it has been suggested that an earthquake of similar magnitude to that in 1906 was likely in the near future. However, analysis of the amount of slip associated with the three later events suggest that they have released most of the accumulated displacement across the plate boundary since 1906.
On 16 April 2016, a
magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in the same area.
See also
*
List of earthquakes in 1906
This is a list of earthquakes in 1906. Only magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes appear on the list. Exceptions to this are earthquakes which have caused death, injury or damage. Events which occurred in remote areas will be excluded from the l ...
*
List of earthquakes in Colombia
This is a list of earthquakes in Colombia. Colombia is a seismically active country and has a large seismic risk in many areas of its territory due to its location at the boundaries of the Malpelo, Panama, Caribbean, North Andes (where most ea ...
*
List of earthquakes in Ecuador
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:1906 Ecuador-Colombia earthquake
Megathrust earthquakes in Ecuador
Megathrust earthquakes in Colombia
1906 earthquakes
1906 in Ecuador
1906 in Colombia
1906 tsunamis
January 1906 events
Tsunamis in Colombia
Tsunamis in Ecuador