The 1900 Venezuelan earthquake also known as the San Narciso earthquake (), occurred on October 28 at between 4:30 and 4:45 am

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

. This earthquake had an epicenter off

Miranda State Miranda State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela and the second most populous after Zulia State. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 2,675,165 residents. It also has the greatest Human Development Index in Venezuela, according to ...

or near the

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n capital

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, in the Cariaco Basin. It had an estimated

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

of 7.6–7.7 and a

surface-wave magnitude The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This mag ...

of 7.7–8.4. It had a maximum Mercalli intensity assigned VIII–X, causing landslides and liquefaction events. Many buildings were severely damaged or collapsed during the earthquake. It is thought to be the last great earthquake of the 19th century and the largest instrumentally recorded in the republic, having been felt throughout.

Earthquake

The earthquake was associated with

strike-slip faulting In geology, a fault is a Fracture (geology), planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of Rock (geology), rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust (geology ...

along either the La Tortuga or San Sebastián faults. These two faults are thought to be striking east–west off the northern Venezuelan coast. A recent study in 2015, concluded that the San Sebastián Fault was the structure responsible for this earthquake. The San Sebastián Fault is submarine for most of its length. Its onshore trace is parallel to the southern flanks of the

Venezuelan Coastal Range The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System (), is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the central and eastern portions of Venezuela's northern coa ...

. Older studies including one in 1984 assigned the San Sebastián Fault as the source after reassessing the earthquake

intensity Intensity may refer to: In colloquial use * Strength (disambiguation) *Amplitude * Level (disambiguation) * Magnitude (disambiguation) In physical sciences Physics *Intensity (physics), power per unit area (W/m2) *Field strength of electric, m ...

data. Audemard in 2002 used the idea of a seismic gap around the region where the earthquake struck. The rupture extent caused by the 1900 earthquake is located between that of the 1812 and 1853 earthquakes. Ocean-bottom surveys found young seafloor deformation and

fault scarp A fault scarp is a small step-like offset of the ground surface in which one side of a fault has shifted vertically in relation to the other. The topographic expression of fault scarps results from the differential erosion of rocks of contrastin ...

s which are evidence of the 1900 rupture. A rupture length of 220 km for an 7.6 and 270 km for a 7.7 with an average slip depth at 15 km has been suggested.

Magnitude

This earthquake is larger than the magnitude 7.5

1812 Caracas earthquake The 1812 Caracas earthquake took place in Venezuela on March 26 (on Maundy Thursday) at 4:37 p.m. It measured 7.7 on the Richter scale. It caused extensive damage in Caracas, La Guaira, Barquisimeto, San Felipe, and Mérida. An estimated ...

, but was far less destructive. With a magnitude of 7.7 on the surface wave and moment magnitude scales, it is the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in Venezuela. The

National Geophysical Data Center The United States National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) provided scientific stewardship, products and services for geophysical data describing the solid earth, marine, and solar-terrestrial environment, as well as earth observations from spac ...

catalog lists this earthquake as having a surface wave magnitude of 8.4 while a 1983 catalog placed that figure at 7.7. Charles Francis Richter also assigned the earthquake at 8.4 in his 1958 book ''Elementary seismology''. In a 1992 catalog and 2020 study, this event was assigned 7.6.

Aftershocks

More than 250

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...

s were recorded in the months following the main event. The aftershocks were disruptive to the local population. An aftershock is claimed to have woken then President of Venezuela

Cipriano Castro José Cipriano Castro Ruiz (12 October 1858 – 4 December 1924) was a Venezuelan politician and Officer (armed forces), officer of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela, military who served as president of Venezuela, president from ...

in the middle of the night. Frightened by the tremors, he leaped off one of the windows of the Yellow House and suffered a broken ankle.

Impact

With an epicenter in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

, the earthquake badly affected the north-central Venezuelan coast. In the central region, the earthquake resulted in shaking as high as IX on the

Modified Mercalli intensity scale The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS) measures the effects of an earthquake at a given location. This is in contrast with the seismic magnitude usually reported for an earthquake. Magnitude scales measure the inherent force or ...

, covering a 3,560 km² region around the epicenter. The seaside cities of

Macuto Macuto is a seaside city in Vargas state, Venezuela. The city has a long history of attracting Venezuelan political leaders and artists, and popular tourist site today. History Macuto was founded in August 1740 on the site of an indigenous vil ...

Guarenas Guarenas is a city in Miranda (state), Miranda, Venezuela. It was established in 1621 as ''Nuestra Señora de Copacabana de los Guarenas''. It is part of the Guarenas-Guatire conurbation On February 27, 1989, a morning protest in this city over ...

and

Guatire Guatire is a city in Miranda (state), Miranda, Venezuela. In 2006, its population has been estimated at 200,417. Today, Guatire has virtually merged with its neighbour, Guarenas forming the Guarenas-Guatire conurbation. Located in Miranda Sta ...

were the most severely affected by the earthquake. The

Los Roques archipelago The Los Roques Archipelago (Spanish: ''Archipiélago de Los Roques'') is a federal dependency of Venezuela consisting of approximately 350 islands, cays, and islets in a total area of . The archipelago is located directly north of the port ...

in the Caribbean Sea suffered heavy impact, reportedly having the highest number of victims. Twenty-five people were killed in

. Large

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

s and

liquefaction In materials science, liquefaction is a process that generates a liquid from a solid or a gas or that generates a non-liquid phase which behaves in accordance with fluid dynamics. It occurs both naturally and artificially. As an example of t ...

s took place in

Anzoátegui Anzoátegui State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, states of Venezuela, located in the northeastern region of the country. Anzoátegui is well known for its beaches that attract many visitors. Its coast consists of a single beach approx ...

Aragua Aragua State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains, jungles and Caribbean beaches. The most popular beaches are Cata and Choroni. It has Venezuela's first national par ...

Carabobo Carabobo State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The state capital city is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is and ...

Distrito Capital A capital district, capital region, or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politic ...

, Miranda and Vargas. The heavily populated localities that were affected include

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Onoto and

Carenero Carenero is a barrio in the municipality of Guánica, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 2,670. Features The Guánica State Forest is partly located in Carenero. Gallery Carenero, Guánica 00653, Puerto Rico - panoramio (3).jpg, Welcome t ...

. Some slight damage was reported in San Antonio de Los Altos, Paparo, Panaquire,

Capaya Capaya is a town and parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, pries ...

La Tortuga Island La Tortuga Island (; "La Tortuga" means literally "the turtle") is an uninhabited island of Venezuela, the largest in the Federal Dependencies of Venezuela. It is part of a group of islands that include the Tortuguillos and Cayo Herradura. Is ...

Güigüe Guigue (pronounced Gwigwe) is a city in the south of the Valencia Lake, in Carabobo, Venezuela. It is the capital of the Carlos Arvelo Municipality and of the Guigue parish. The Guigue River flows through the city, draining in Lake Valencia. Ety ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Clarines Clarines is a town in Venezuela's Anzoátegui State, located on the right bank of the Unare River. It serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding Manuel Ezequiel Bruzual Municipality. It is located on Venezuela Route 11 (Troncal 1 ...

Puerto Cabello Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the count ...

and

Caucagua Caucagua is a Venezuelan city in the state of Miranda, and is the capital of the Acevedo Municipality. The town of later Caucagua was founded as ''Valle de Araguata'' in about 1690. It was refounded with the name of Caucagua in 1752. Bishop Maria ...

. Iglesia de San Francisco, a church in Caracas, was severely damaged. Another church in Naiguatá was completely destroyed. In Macuto, landslides buried or destroyed railway lines serving the cities Caracas and La Guaira. Guatire saw 237 homes, a parish church, government house, and court offices damaged or collapsed. In Guarenas, some 72 homes toppled. The total death toll from the earthquake is estimated to be over 140. At least 50 people were injured.

Effects on landscape and hydrological features

At a seaside port in Barcelona named El Rincón, built on

alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

deposits from the Neverí River, many large cracks opened in the ground. Some cracks were longer than 300 meters. A 400 m² area of alluvium in the city subsided significantly due to lateral spreading as a result of ground failure. Field observations also noted that an opening of the Neverí River was narrowed by more than two meters, while its water level rose. The water level in a number of saline wells rose substantially by several meters and began sloshing violently. Along the

Unare River The Unare River is a river of Venezuela. It drains into the Caribbean Sea. In the 17th century the Dutch had a fort at the mouth of the river. It was constructed to protect their salt collection in the area. The other Dutch fort ever to stand on w ...

, portions of its bank slumped into the water. Large and deep fissures opened, ejecting mud and water. Seiches formed along the river, causing water to breach the channel by seven meters. A man was caught in the waves when he was taking a bath but managed to escape. In Carenero, Miranda, the ground sprouted black water that smelled of sulfur. Liquefaction caused several homes and other buildings to sink partially. Hot springs located near

dired up some time after the earthquake. Residents living around Lake Tacarigua also described violent seiches in the lake as well as loud noises compared to that of a sea. They added that large flames and fire shot out of the ground near the lake shores. A 100-meter wide landslide buried and sealed off a section of the

Caracas-La Guaira highway The Caracas–La Guaira highway is a highway that connects Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, to its principal port city of La Guaira, capital of the Vargas state. It was designed as an alternative to the old highway linking Caracas with La Guair ...

between Guaracarumbo and Ojo de Agua.

Tsunami

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

flooded the low-lying near shore zones of northern Venezuela. Waves swept into the Los Roques archipelago and north-central Venezuelan coasts. It manifested in the form of

tidal bore A tidal bore, often simply given as bore in context, is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travels up a river or narrow bay, reversing the direction of the river or bay's cu ...

s at the mouth of the Neverí River which resulted in the rise in water level. The tsunami is estimated to be 1–meter high. Witnesses at the coast at the mouth of the Guapo River in Puerto Tuy, Miranda reported seeing large waves up to 10 meters high, although this claim is disputed. Because the earthquake struck in complete darkness, before sunrise, it is unlikely the eyewitnesses could have a clear view of the wave. In addition, it is nearly impossible for them to survive being struck by the 10-meter tsunami. The small village of Paparo was partially submerged by the waves. A better estimate of the maximum tsunami wave height is 5 meters at Barlovento. The tsunami may have been generated by a submarine landslide or significant vertical slip mechanism associated with faulting.

Legacy

The earthquake of 1900 was a catalyst in expanding research in

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

in Venezuela due to its size and being one of the last great historical earthquakes at the time. The first seismic instruments were brought into the country in the aftermath of the earthquake and installed at the

Cagigal Observatory The Astronomical and Meteorological Observatory of Caracas, was created by decree of President Juan Pablo Rojas Paul on September 8, 1888. The observatory was established on Quintana Hill, later changed to Cagigal Hill in honor of the astronomer a ...

in November 1900 to early 1901.

References

External links

* {{Earthquakes in the Caribbean Earthquakes in Venezuela 1900 natural disasters 1900 in science 1900 in the environment 1900s floods 20th-century floods in South America Tsunamis in Venezuela 1900 disasters in Venezuela San Narciso earthquake 1900 earthquakes