The Peruvian population felt two earthquakes today, but they occurred due to two different processes, therefore, they have no relationship, the IGP reported.
The earthquake of this Sunday, November 28, 2021, of magnitude 7.5 in the Amazon area of Peru, occurred as a result of a normal fault at an intermediate depth, approximately 110 km below the Earth’s surface within the subduced lithosphere of the Nazca plate, the Geophysical Institutes of Peru and the United States coincided this Sunday.
The rupture occurred in a normal, moderately falling fault, colliding to the north-northwest or south-southeast. In the place where the earthquake occurred this Sunday, the Nazca plate moves east relative to the South American plate at a rate of approximately 70 mm / year, subducting into the Peru-Chile Trench, west of the Peruvian coastrecalled the American geophysicist.
The earthquakes in northern Peru and most of western South America are due to the stresses generated by this ongoing subduction; at this latitude, the Nazca plate is seismically active at depths of around 650 km. This earthquake occurred in a segment of the subducted plate that has produced frequent earthquakes with focal depths of 100 to 150 km.
Earthquakes like this one, with focal depths between 70 and 300 km, are commonly referred to as “intermediate depth” earthquakes, representing deformations within subduced slabs rather than at the shallow plate interface between subducting and dominant tectonic plates. They generally cause less damage to the ground surface above their foci than do shallow-focus earthquakes of similar magnitude, but large intermediate-depth earthquakes can be felt a long way from their epicenters, as was the case today. , what was felt in neighboring countries such as Colombia and Ecuador.
Strong earthquakes in the area
Large intermediate depth earthquakes are reasonably common in this section of the Nazca slab, and five other events of more than 7 magnitude intermediate depth have occurred within 250 km of this Sunday’s earthquake over the past century, among those the following:
- Magnitude 7.5 earthquake on September 26, 2005, located at a similar depth but approximately 140 km south of today’s earthquake, caused 5 deaths, around 70 injuries and significant damage in the surrounding region.
- Earthquake of magnitude 8.0 on May 26, 2019, approximately 230 km southeast of today’s earthquake, caused 2 deaths and caused soil liquefaction and damage to adobe homes.
Two earthquakes in Peru, but no relationship
The Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP) reported that this Sunday two earthquakes were felt in its territory, the first of them was at 1:32 am with an epicenter in front of Lima with a magnitude of 5.2. This earthquake occurred due to the collision and friction process of the Nazca and the South American plates.
Likewise, the earthquake that occurred at 5:52 am with an epicenter near Santa María de la Nieva and Chachapoyas with magnitude 7.5 at a depth of 131 km, has been the product of the internal deformation of the Nazca plate below the continent.
Hernando Tavera, executive president of the IGP, affirmed that both earthquakes with different origins have generated different levels of shaking of the ground, being the second event perceived at a greater distance, even in Ecuador and Colombia. Therefore, it must be taken into account that these earthquakes have occurred due to two different processes, therefore, they are not related.
Being Peru located in a highly seismic zone, these movements are part of the active geodynamics product of the convergence of tectonic plates. Earthquakes of different magnitudes have always occurred and will occur at various depths. (I)
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