Reviewed by USGS29y ago
M6.5 earthquake southern East Pacific Rise
Tuesday, June 10, 1997, 21:53:55 UTC · 35.815°S, 108.135°W
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck southern East Pacific Rise on Tuesday, June 10, 1997, 21:53:55 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.0 on March 20, 1920.
- Magnitude
- 6.5
- Strong · mwc
- Depth
- 10 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
85 kilotons of TNT
That is about 6 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 178 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
64 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Antarctic and Nazca plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
10 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 100 km
USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.5 on June 11, 1997. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 46 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.0southern East Pacific RiseMarch 20, 1920 · 234 km W of this epicenter
- 6.3southern East Pacific RiseOctober 1, 1988 · 197 km E of this epicenter
- 6.2southern East Pacific RiseAugust 28, 1952 · 181 km E of this epicenter
- 6.2southern East Pacific RiseJuly 14, 1929 · 215 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.1southern East Pacific RiseMarch 12, 1946 · 223 km E of this epicenter
- 6.0southern East Pacific RiseOctober 12, 1995 · 179 km E of this epicenter
- 6.0southern East Pacific RiseDecember 14, 1958 · 123 km NW of this epicenter
- 5.9southern East Pacific RiseSeptember 14, 1960 · 190 km E of this epicenter