Abstract
The May 13, 1647 earthquake, the larger catastrophe in the colonial history of central Chile, is considered as the second event of the inter-plate earthquakes series that has occurred at regular intervals in this part of Chile. However, this historical analysis suggests this earthquake, besides generating a strong and widespread shaking in the central valley, did not produced a tsunami. Both features could imply it was an intra-plate event, sourced in the surface of the continental plate or deeper in the Nazca plate. The reported effects resemble those from the 1939 Chillan earthquake, a middle-depth intra-plate event that although it did not produce a tsunami it does generated large intensities in the central valley and a huge number of victims. If the 1647 earthquake was intra-plate, a problematic risk scenario is set for the most populated region of the country.
| Translated title of the contribution | The 1647 earthquake in central Chile as an intraplate event: another threat to metropolitan Chile |
|---|---|
| Original language | Spanish |
| Pages (from-to) | 23-33 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Revista de Geografia Norte Grande |
| Issue number | 53 |
| State | Published - 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |