Are the strong earthquakes that Chile experienced recently linked?

Once again, Chile experienced several earthquakes that reminded us of the seismicity that characterizes our country, with the the north-central area as the main objective .

The situation dates back to last week, with an earthquake of magnitude 5.4 which occurred on the afternoon of Thursday October 26, at exactly 6:49 p.m. According to data from National Seismological Center had its epicenter 17 km northeast of Top of Carmen Atacama region, and was detected at a depth of 90 km.

A few days later, part of the central area woke up at 5:49 a.m. on Monday, October 30, following an earthquake of magnitude 4.4 located 35 km east of The Andes and 123 km deep, according to seismology.

Although the largest event was reported a few hours later, with an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 which began at 9:33 a.m. on Tuesday, October 31. This event had its epicenter 42 km southwest of Huasco and approximately 46 km deep, although it was reported that it was seen as far as the Metropolitan Region.

These recent events have been commented on, as happens every time a strong earthquake makes the news, in relation to other events that are constantly occurring.

Asked about the characteristics of the latest earthquakes reported in Chile, the the geophysicist and seismologist Luis Donoso, explains to La Tercera that they respond to different dynamics, due to the different territories that make up the seismic panorama of the country.

—How often do I get 6.6 in the north? We’re going to say, look, here I have a much higher 6.6 than in the Concepción region, for example, over the last 10 years, yes, but in Concepción I have an 8.8. Of course, for this reason, each area has its different particularities each tectonic province.

The expert addresses a series of differentiated sectors across the country, where seismic behaviors can be identified.

— The Atacama Rupture Zone, all indications are, due to a much larger scale geological structure, extends north of La Serena. How far north does it go? Until Taltal, then we have this dimension Taltal-Chañaral to La Higuera and it’s a unit, and we have the other of La Higuera to Los Vilos then, we have Los Vilos-Pichilemu and then we have Pichilemu-Design .

In this regard, it is worth asking whether each event generated in the country can lean towards a specific trend, although the expert clarifies that this is not the case, each tremor therefore responds to its own epicenter, depth and magnitude .

Returning to the last major earthquakes in October, the academic explains that they are all about subduction, a concept which he develops as follows:

-I have one plate collision process . Nail Nazca plate On the one hand, it comes from the Pacific, which is an oceanic plate, and from the continental plate, which is the South American plate . These plates collide because of tectonic issues and the dynamics of the planet. One answer is that the lighter plate, which is the oceanic plate, passes under the continental plate. And what happens is these frictions are generated . Now, how long has this been happening? 100 to 120 million years, easily.

Meanwhile, are these recent earthquakes related? The academic rejects it categorically:

-No, These are all coincidences . If you saw how many earthquakes occur every day in Chile, would you shake as much? Yes, it’s so shaking.

Another question is whether these telluric events can mean danger or indicate an alarm signal, even if:

—Everything is within expected ranges . Even if at the level of eco-society, at the level of communities, at the level of people, what we expect is that it does not tremble. Now, expected in technical terms means I, In the long term, yes I will have big earthquakes . (…) Every earthquake in the north, with a magnitude greater than 6.5, will be felt in Santiago . It’s normal.

This is why the expert emphasizes that such shocks do not allow us to visualize a future scenario:

—There’s no way to say it’s the predictor of anything No, because it requires another dynamic, it requires other elements. Here the only thing that should be kept in mind is that since these are unpredictable events today, science today is far away, the frontier of knowledge here is much further far from what a seismic projection can do.