This evening there was a M8.2 earthquake along the northern Chilean subduction zone. It caused very strong shaking along the Chilean coast. There have been numerous aftershocks. It was appropriately configured to generate a tsunami. Max heights in the source region are 2 m. It appears that beyond Chile and Peru the tsunami concerns are low (I saw that the expectation was ~20 cm in coastal California).
The Chilean portion of the subduction zone along western South America has generated the largest recorded earthquake historically (in 1960 M9.5; That was on the southern end of the zone). This is in an area where there has been some strong locking noted.
Here are some links:
- USGS main page: Summary Includes estimated losses (pager) and also expected (shakemap) and felt (dyfi) intensities.
- Here is low dip focal mechanism consistent with expectations: scientific
Here is the IRIS Teachable moment page. I has some nice content for presentations on the event.
This map may work to show the local seismicity: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ Navigate to the region and zoom in.
Try this one too: http://www.iris.edu/seismon/ see this: Regional focus
Pacific Tsunami warning center: Pacific region see the Pacific region statement: text Here is the forecast tsunami height map and the travel time map
This site is accumulating observations: http://earthquake-report.com/2014/04/01/massive-earthquake-offshore-tarapaca-chile-on-april-1-2014/
Image showing degree of seismic coupling and location: http://t.co/rgwmyacIw1. See this paper: http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/content/194/3/1283.full
Good blog entries:
Quakehunters
Here are a few useful news links:
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-chile-quake-larger-20140401,0,2045484.story#axzz2xgQBG1Wx
http://santiagotimes.cl/8-2-quake-hits-northern-chile-triggering-regional-pacific-wide-tsunami-warning/
Some more educational links:
Tsunamis Generated by Megathrust Earthquakes from IRIS
