M3.1 earthquake near the coast of central Chile

Wednesday, September 16, 1998, 02:36:51 UTC · 33.607°S, 71.768°W

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake struck near the coast of central Chile on Wednesday, September 16, 1998, 02:36:51 UTC, at a depth of 12.5 km (shallow).

Magnitude: 3.1; Minor · md
Depth: 13 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: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

674 kg of TNT

That is about 1/22,353 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 708 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

104 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: shallow

13 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 lists 14 M2.5+ earthquakes within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M5.7 on October 10, 1998. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 368 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 38 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 49,041 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1939M8.3
Chillan
25 Jan 1939 · 297 km away · intensity X
30,000 deaths$920 million damagetsunami
1861
Mendoza, San Luiz
20 Mar 1861 · 290 km away · intensity IX
14,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
1906M8.2
South Central
17 Aug 1906 · 71 km away · intensity XI
4,000 deaths$100 million damagetsunami
1965M7.3
Central
28 Mar 1965 · 144 km away
400 deaths$125 million damage
1928M7.6
Talca, Chillan, Santiago, San Fernando
1 Dec 1928 · 156 km away · intensity IX
279 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1985M8.0
Central Coast, San Antonio, Valparaiso
3 Mar 1985 · 53 km away · intensity VIII
180 deaths$1.5 billion damagetsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers