This earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates are converging at a rate of 80 mm per year. The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the Nazca plate moving down and landward below the South American plate. Coastal Chile has a history of very large earthquakes. Since 1973, there have been 13 events of magnitude 7.0 or greater.
updated 28 Feb17 Slide Teachable Moment Powerpoint (zipped 12.6MB)
Using a Mac, the animation on slide 13 is not automated. It can be found on the Earthquake Research Institute, Tokyo site.
University of Portland/IRIS Earthquake Notice (pdf)
PDF of Teachable Moment Powerpoint (2.1MB)
The animation on slide 13 can be found on the Earthquake Research Institute, Tokyo site.
added 15 Mar Seismic Eruptions - Shows earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in southern section of South America from 1960 to 2010. (YouTube)
Seismic Wave Propagation (Youtube / Quicktime)
USArray Ground Motion Visualization (MPEG-4 Movie (36.3MB), Youtube)
Presentación en Español (12.6MB)
Usando un Mac, la animación en la diapositiva 13 no es automatizada. La animación puede ser encontrada en la página web del Instituto de Investigación de Terremoto de Tokio
PDF de la Presentación Momentos de Enseñanza (2.1MB)
La animación puede ser encontrada en la diapositiva 13 en la página web del Instituto de Investigación de Terremoto de Tokio
Universidad de Portland/IRIS Notificación de Terremoto (pdf)
Propagación de Ondas Sísmicas (Youtube / Animación Quicktime)
USGS Earthquake Hazards Program
USGS Earthquake Summary Poster
Subduction Zone Geometry Analysis- Preliminary SZGC Results NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE, Gavin Hayes, NEIC
added 11 Mar Rupture Modelling of the February 27, 2010 Chilean Earthquake The Harvard seismology group has applied the back-projection technique to Hi-net and USArray Transportable Array data to image the rupture properties of the February 27, 2010 Chilean earthquake.
added 4 Mar Vertical displacement seismograms (6.1 MB) from 407 USArray Transportable Array stations, filtered from 5-120 seconds, compiled by Rick Aster, New Mexico Tech
added 3 Mar MCEER: Chile Earthquake 2010: Facts, Engineering, News & Maps
added 2 Mar NYTimes.com: Dot Earth: Chilean Quake a Warning to U.S. Northwest
added 2 Mar Interview Video and Transcript of Roger Bilham on Democracy Now
Source Characteristics of Historic Earthquakes along the Central Chile Subduction Zone
Explore the aftershock sequence using the IRIS Earthquake Browser
UNAVCO Aftershock Pictorial Updates
