The 2016 Chiloé earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck south-west of
Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...
in southern
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
at 11:22 local time, 25 December.
The earthquake triggered a
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 ...
warning on coasts located up to from the quake's
epicentre
The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates.
Surface damage
Before the instrumental pe ...
, generating massive evacuation across the
Greater Chiloé Island, after advice from the Chilean government.
Although there was damage in some parts of the island, the government reported no casualties.
Earthquake
The earthquake occurred as a result of shallow thrust faulting in southern Chile. At the location of the earthquake, the oceanic Nazca plate converges with and subducts beneath the South America plate in an east-northeast direction, at a rate of approximately 73 mm/yr. The location, depth and shallow thrusting focal mechanism solution all indicate this earthquake likely occurred on the subduction zone interface.
Tsunami
A tsunami with a maximum height of was observed on
Chiloé Island
Chiloé Island ( es, Isla de Chiloé, , ) also known as Greater Island of Chiloé (''Isla Grande de Chiloé''), is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the west coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. The island is located in southern ...
.
See also
*
List of earthquakes in 2016
This is a list of earthquakes in 2016. Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above are included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or are notable for some other reason. All dates are listed according to UTC time. Maximum intensities ...
*
List of earthquakes in Chile __NOTOC__
Chile lay in a region which is adjacent to the fast-moving Nazca Plate, and has high tectonic activity. The records for earlier centuries are apparently incomplete.
Of the world's 46 known earthquakes with M ≥ 8.5 since the year 1 ...
References
External links
*
{{Earthquakes in 2016
2016 earthquakes
2016 in Chile
Earthquakes in Chile
December 2016 events in South America