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1942 Ecuador Earthquake
The 1942 Ecuador earthquake or the Guayaquil earthquake occurred on 13 May at 9:06 or 9:13 pm local time with a moment magnitude of 7.9. The temblor struck the coastal ( Esmeraldas) region of Manabí Province, Ecuador. It caused damage mainly to cities like Guayaquil, Portoviejo and Guaranda. More than 300 people were killed and the total cost of damage was about US$2.5 million (1942 rate). Ecuador's largest city Guayaquil was the most affected despite the significant distantce from the epicenter. Many reinforced concrete structures in a particular area in the city were completely destroyed, contributing to fatalities. Tectonic setting The Nazca Plate dives beneath the South American Plate along a convergent plate boundary stretching from Colombia to Chile in a process known as subduction. This plate boundary occasionally produces large megathrust earthquakes along the west coast of South America. The Ecuador–Colombia subduction zone occupies part of this plate boundary, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Ekuatur Nunka''), is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Ecuador also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about west of the mainland. The country's capital and largest city is Quito. The territories of modern-day Ecuador were once home to a variety of Indigenous groups that were gradually incorporated into the Inca Empire during the 15th century. The territory was colonized by Spain during the 16th century, achieving independence in 1820 as part of Gran Colombia, from which it emerged as its own sovereign state in 1830. The legacy of both empires is reflected in Ecuador's ethnically diverse population, with most of its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megathrust Earthquakes
Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthquakes are the planet's most powerful, with moment magnitudes (''Mw'') that can exceed 9.0. Since 1900, all earthquakes of magnitude 9.0 or greater have been megathrust earthquakes. The thrust faults responsible for megathrust earthquakes often lie at the bottom of oceanic trenches; in such cases, the earthquakes can abruptly displace the sea floor over a large area. As a result, megathrust earthquakes often generate tsunamis that are considerably more destructive than the earthquakes themselves. Teletsunamis can cross ocean basins to devastate areas far from the original earthquake. Terminology and mechanism The term ''megathrust'' refers to an extremely large thrust fault, typically formed at the plate interface along a subduction zo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at . With over 275 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population. Indonesia is a presidential republic with an elected legislature. It has 38 provinces, of which nine have special status. The country's capital, Jakarta, is the world's second-most populous urban area. Indonesia shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and the eastern part of Malaysia, as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent islands such as the Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, Enggano, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung and Krakatoa archipelago. Sumatra is an elongated landmass spanning a diagonal northwest–southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders the northwest, west, and southwest coasts of Sumatra, with the island chain of Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, and Enggano off the western coast. In the northeast, the narrow Strait of Malacca separates the island from the Malay Peninsula, which is an extension of the Eurasian continent. In the southeast, the narrow Sunda Strait, containing the Krakatoa Archipelago, separates Sumatra from Java. The northern tip of Sumatra is near the Andaman Islands, while off the southeastern coast lie the islands of Bangka and Belitung, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2016 Ecuador Earthquake
The 2016 Ecuador earthquake occurred on April 16 at with a moment magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''). The very large thrust earthquake was centered approximately from the towns of Muisne and Pedernales in a sparsely populated part of the country, and from the capital Quito, where it was felt strongly. Regions of Manta, Pedernales and Portoviejo accounted for over 75 percent of total casualties. Manta's central commercial shopping district, Tarqui, was completely destroyed. Widespread damage was caused across Manabí Province, with structures hundreds of kilometres from the epicenter collapsing. At least 676 people were killed and 16,600 people injured. President Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency; 13,500 military personnel and police officers were dispatched for recovery operations. Geology Ecuador lies above the destructive plate boundary where the Nazca Plate is subducting beneath the South American Plate. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1998 Bahía De Caráquez Earthquake
The 1998 Bahía de Caráquez earthquake occurred on August 4 at 13:59 local time (18:59 UTC) with a magnitude 7.2. The epicenter was located at 10 km north of Bahía de Caráquez, about 190 km NNW of Guayaquil, and about 215 km W of Quito, Ecuador. The intensity in Bahía de Caráquez reached MM VIII. In Bahía de Caráquez, electricity, telephone, and water services disrupted, and many buildings were damaged. It was felt strongly in Guayaquil and Quito and could be felt in much of Ecuador and in Cali, Colombia. An 5.4 foreshock A foreshock is an earthquake that occurs before a larger seismic event (the mainshock) and is related to it in both time and space. The designation of an earthquake as ''foreshock'', ''mainshock'' or aftershock is only possible after the full se ... occurred 1 hour and 24 minutes before the main shock and hence alerted many people. The Nazca Plate is subducting beneath the South American Plate near the Ecuadorian coast. This earthqu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1979 Tumaco Earthquake
The 1979 Tumaco earthquake occurred at on 12 December with a moment magnitude of 8.2 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The epicenter was just offshore from the border between Ecuador and Colombia, near the port city of Tumaco. It triggered a major tsunami, which was responsible for most of the estimated 300–600 deaths. The hardest hit area was Colombia's Nariño Department. Tectonic setting Coastal parts of Ecuador and southern Colombia lie above the convergent boundary where the Malpelo Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate along the Colombia–Ecuador Trench. At this location the Malpelo Plate, the microplate northeast of the Nazca Plate, is moving to the east relative to South America at a rate of 58 mm per year. North of the Carnegie Ridge, the subduction interface has four recognisable segments, from south to north, the Esmeraldas, Manglares, Tumaco and Patia segments. This plate boundary has been the location of several great histori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1958 Ecuador–Colombia Earthquake
The 1958 Ecuador–Colombia earthquake struck the coastal regions of Ecuador and Colombia on January 19 with a surface wave magnitude of 7.6 at 9:07 local time. Approximately 30 percent of Esmeraldas (Ecuador) was destroyed, including the children's department of the hospital, where three children died. In all, 111 persons died and 45 were injured as a result of the earthquake. Water mains were broken and power transmission lines were damaged. The Esmeraldas- Quito highway collapsed at many places. Many other roads of the country were made impassable by cracks and fallen trees. According to press reports, a landslide from the slopes of the Andes at Panado village buried a hundred people. The earthquake was destructive in the cities on the northern coast of the country and was strong from Latacunga to Quito, Ibarra and Tulcán. It was felt at Guayaquil. Tectonic setting Ecuador and Colombia lie above a convergent boundary where the Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subduction Zone
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the heavier plate dives beneath the second plate and sinks into the mantle. A region where this process occurs is known as a subduction zone, and its surface expression is known as an arc-trench complex. The process of subduction has created most of the Earth's continental crust. Rates of subduction are typically measured in centimeters per year, with the average rate of convergence being approximately two to eight centimeters per year along most plate boundaries. Subduction is possible because the cold oceanic lithosphere is slightly denser than the underlying asthenosphere, the hot, ductile layer in the upper mantle underlying the cold, rigid lithosphere. Once initiated, stable subduction is driven mostly by the negative buoyancy of the den ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earthquake Rupture
In seismology, an earthquake rupture is the extent of slip that occurs during an earthquake in the Earth's crust. Earthquakes occur for many reasons that include: landslides, movement of magma in a volcano, the formation of a new fault, or, most commonly of all, a slip on an existing fault. Nucleation A tectonic earthquake begins by an initial rupture at a point on the fault surface, a process known as nucleation. The scale of the nucleation zone is uncertain, with some evidence, such as the rupture dimensions of the smallest earthquakes, suggesting that it is smaller than 100 m while other evidence, such as a slow component revealed by low-frequency spectra of some earthquakes, suggest that it is larger. The possibility that the nucleation involves some sort of preparation process is supported by the observation that about 40% of earthquakes are preceded by foreshocks. However, some large earthquakes, such as the M8.6 1950 India - China earthquake., have no foreshocks and it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seismic Moment
Seismic moment is a quantity used by seismologists to measure the size of an earthquake. The scalar seismic moment M_0 is defined by the equation M_0=\mu AD, where *\mu is the shear modulus of the rocks involved in the earthquake (in pascals (Pa), i.e. newtons per square meter) *A is the area of the rupture along the geologic fault where the earthquake occurred (in square meters), and *D is the average slip (displacement offset between the two sides of the fault) on A (in meters). M_0 thus has dimensions of torque, measured in newton meters. The connection between seismic moment and a torque is natural in the body-force equivalent representation of seismic sources as a double-couple (a pair of force couples with opposite torques): the seismic moment is the torque of each of the two couples. Despite having the same dimensions as energy, seismic moment is not a measure of energy. The relations between seismic moment, potential energy drop and radiated energy are indirect and appro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quito
Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes, at an elevation of , making it the second-highest capital city in the world.Contact Us " TAME. Retrieved on 14 March 2010. Quito is the political and cultural center of Ecuador as the country's major governmental, administrative, and cultural institutions are located within the city. The majority of transnational companies with a presence in Ecuador are headquartered there. It is also one of the country's two major industrial centers—the port city of |
