What caused the Chilean earthquake in the 1960?

Answer 1

Chilean earthquakes are normally the result of thrust faulting at the convergent boundary between the Nazca and South American plates. For further information on the tectonic setting see below:

Chile is on the western coast of the continent of South America, this is the boundary between two tectonic plates, the Nazca plate (which is an oceanic plate) and the South American plate (a continental crustal plate).

In this region the Nazca and South American plates are converging at a rate of approximately 80mm / year. The dense oceanic crust of the Nazca plate is being forced under or subducted beneath the less dense continental crust of the South American Plate.

Answer 2

So what caused the earthquake? Whenever an earthquake of any size happens anywhere in the world the same basic thing happens; the ground along either side of a fault (a fracture or crack in the ground) moves.

Faults are cracks in the earth caused by buckling and stress from the movement of the tectonic plates. Movement along faultlines tends to happen along plate boundaries (where the edges of the tectonic plates meet). In the case of this enormous earthquake, the subduction (downward movement) of the Nazca plate under the the South American continent is what caused the major quake back in 1960. In fact, the Nazca plate continues to dive down below the continent and it's this constant slow movement (with some occasional rapid shifts leading to big jolts) that creates earthquakes throughout that region.

Chile has seen many earthquakes both before the 1960 record-setting temblor and after. Two very large contenders have happened on March 3, 1985, and another on July 30, 1995. These earthquakes both had a magnitude of about 8. Chilean earthquakes are not rare, nor are they small. Large earthquakes in Chile seem, through history, to occur about every 25 to 100 years. They'll continue as long as the Pacific plate continues subducting.

Answer 3

Tectonic plates crash into each other

=D =P

Answer 4

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Answer 5

The ongoing collision of the Nazca plate and the South American plate causes virtually all of the earthquakes in Chile.

Answer 6

the tectonic plates moved to move the earth

Answer 7

The movement of Earth's tectonic plates driven by convection in Earth's mantle caused by heat emanating from Earth's core.

Answer 8

ause the plates were rubbing

Answer 9

Transform boundry