Reviewed by USGSChile10y ago
M4.0 earthquake 30 km WNW of Coquimbo, Chile
Tuesday, August 16, 2016, 09:27:28 UTC · 29.845°S, 71.632°W
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck 30 km WNW of Coquimbo, Chile on Tuesday, August 16, 2016, 09:27:28 UTC, at a depth of 24.1 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.0
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 24 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquake
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
15 tons of TNT
That is about 1/998 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 32 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
91 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Nazca and South American plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
24 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 50 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 675 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.594 km ENE of Vallenar, ChileNovember 11, 1922 · 244 km NE of this epicenter
- 8.348 km W of Illapel, ChileSeptember 16, 2015 · 192 km S of this epicenter
- 8.2The 1906 Valparaiso, Chile EarthquakeAugust 17, 1906 · 285 km S of this epicenter
- 8.145 km NNW of Illapel, ChileApril 6, 1943 · 160 km S of this epicenter
- 7.47 km SSE of La Ligua, ChileMarch 28, 1965 · 300 km S of this epicenter
- 7.136 km SW of Monte Patria, ChileOctober 15, 1997 · 127 km S of this epicenter
- 7.086 km NW of La Serena, ChileMarch 19, 1904 · 66 km N of this epicenter
- 7.025 km WNW of Illapel, ChileSeptember 16, 2015 · 192 km S of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 37 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 1,227 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1922M8.5
Atacama
11 Nov 1922 · 244 km away · intensity XI
700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1965M7.3
Central
28 Mar 1965 · 287 km away
400 deaths$125 million damage
- 1971M7.8
Central
9 Jul 1971 · 298 km away · intensity IX
83 deaths$236 million damagetsunami
- 2015M8.3
Central
16 Sep 2015 · 192 km away · intensity IX
15 deaths$600 million damagetsunami
- 1943M8.2
Illapel
6 Apr 1943 · 107 km away
11 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1997M7.1
Pueblo Nuevo, Coquimbo, La Chimba
15 Oct 1997 · 127 km away
8 deaths$48 million damage
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.