Reviewed by USGSChile46y ago
M4.4 earthquake 129 km ESE of Vallenar, Chile
Sunday, July 27, 1980, 20:59:44 UTC · 29.119°S, 69.584°W
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 129 km ESE of Vallenar, Chile on Sunday, July 27, 1980, 20:59:44 UTC, at a depth of 111.0 km (intermediate).
- Magnitude
- 4.4
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 111 km
- Intermediate
- 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
60 tons of TNT
That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
268 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Nazca and South American plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: intermediate
111 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
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 248 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 · 95 km N of this epicenter
- 8.145 km NNW of Illapel, ChileApril 6, 1943 · 294 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.4Atacama, ChileApril 18, 1939 · 246 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.4San Juan, ArgentinaNovember 23, 1977 · 275 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.032 km NW of Fiambalá, ArgentinaAugust 3, 1920 · 248 km NE of this epicenter
- 7.086 km NW of La Serena, ChileMarch 19, 1904 · 211 km W of this epicenter
- 7.0118 km WNW of Vallenar, ChileNovember 7, 1922 · 245 km W of this epicenter
- 7.060 km WSW of Coquimbo, ChileApril 19, 1955 · 253 km SW of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 30 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 10,800 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1944M6.9
San Juan Province
15 Jan 1944 · 284 km away · intensity IX
10,000 deaths$100 million damage
- 1922M8.5
Atacama
11 Nov 1922 · 95 km away · intensity XI
700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1977M7.5
San Juan Province: Mendoza
23 Nov 1977 · 279 km away · intensity IX
65 deaths$80 million damage
- 1899
La Rioja
12 Apr 1899 · 127 km away · intensity VIII
11 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1943M8.2
Illapel
6 Apr 1943 · 295 km away
11 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1859M7.6
Chile
5 Oct 1859 · 211 km away · intensity X
10 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.