The 1586 Lima–Callao earthquake () was an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

that occurred on July 9 along the coast of

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, near the capital

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

. A section of the

Peruvian Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 ...

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

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

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, 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. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

() 8.1 earthquake triggered a locally damaging

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) 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 underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

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 The Nazca plate or Nasca plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic list of tectonic plates, tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru– ...

subducts or dives beneath the continental

South American Plate The South American plate is a major tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America as well as a sizable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the African plate, with which it forms the southern part of the Mid ...

. 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 Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

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 , ) 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 underwater explosions (including detonations, la ...

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 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 English, the name is derived from Old English and Middle English , 'day of Woden', reflecting ...

. 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 collapse. Damage and effects from the earthquake occurred over a 1,000 km long by 120 km wide area near the coast. The earthquake was also felt in the cities

Cusco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous Cusco Province, province and Cusco Region, department. The city was the cap ...

and

Huánuco Huánuco (; ) 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 Huánuco. The met ...

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

Rímac District Rímac (pronunciation: ), known until the 19th century as the neighbourhood of San Lázaro, 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. ...

of Lima Province. The earthquake also severely damaged the residence of Fernando Torres de Portugal y Mesía, the then viceroy of Peru. 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 Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists ...

, 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 Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

, 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 occurred in Japan on January 18, 1586, at 23:00 Japan Standard Time, local time. This earthquake had an estimated Seismic magnitude scales, seismic magnitude () of 7.9, and an epicenter in Honshu's Chūbu region. It caused an estimated 8,000 ...

; 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 presumed source of a tsunami along the Sanriku coast of Japan on 11 June 1585, known only from vague historical accounts and oral traditions. The event was initially misdated to 1586, which led to it b ...

. At a monument in Tokura village near the Sanriku coast in

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

, 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 Lima–Callao earthquake Megathrust earthquakes in Peru Tsunamis in Peru Lima–Callao earthquake Lima–Callao earthquake Lima–Callao earthquake History of Lima Lima–Callao earthquake

Tectonic setting

Descriptions

Earthquake characteristics

Tsunami

See also

References