Magnitude | 8.0 - Richter scale |
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Depth | 39 km (24.2 miles) set by location program Km |
Location | NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL PERU LAT -13.354, LON -76.509 |
Date-Time | Aug 15, 2007 23:40:57 UTC |
Source | USGS NEIC (WDCS-D) |
Event ID(s) | us2007gbcv |
Distances from major cities | |
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50 km (30 miles) W of Chincha Alta, Peru |
This earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates are converging at a rate of 77 mm per year. The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the South American plate moving up and seaward over the Nazca plate.
Coastal Peru has a history of very large earthquakes. The August 15 shock originated just south of the source region of the magnitude 8.1 earthquake of October 1974 and just north of the source regions of major earthquakes that occurred in August 1942 (magnitude 7.7) and 1996 (magnitude 7.7). The largest coastal Peru earthquake of the last two centuries was the magnitude 9 earthquake of 1868, which was centered about 700 km southeast of the August 15 earthquake. The 1868 shock produced a tsunami that killed several thousand people along the South American coast and also caused damage in Hawaii.
Earthquake Information for Peru
Earthquake Information for South America
Epicentral Area Seismicity Map jpeg pdf
4-minute field survey video filmed from September 15-21, 2007