List of earthquakes in Peru

Earthquakes in Peru are common occurrences as the country is located in a seismic zone. The interface between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates is located near the Peruvian coast. The South American Plate is moving over the Nazca Plate at a rate of 77 mm (3.0 in) per year.[1] Thus, earthquakes occur as thrust faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the South American Plate moving towards the sea over the Nazca Plate. The same process has caused the rise of the Andes mountain range and the creation of the Peru–Chile Trench, as well as volcanism in the Peruvian highlands.

Geology of Peru

The oldest rocks in Peru date to the Precambrian and are more than two billion years old. Along the southern coast, granulite and charnockite shows reworking by an ancient orogeny mountain-building event. Situated close to the Peru-Chile Trench, these rocks have anomalously high strontium isotope ratios, which suggest recent calc-alkaline volcanism.

In the Eastern Cordillera of Peru, Precambrian magmatism in the Huanaco region produced ultramafic, mafic and felsic rocks, including serpentinite, meta-diorite, meta-gabbro, meta-tonalite and diorite and granite that intruded after the first phase of orogenic tectonic activity.

The Grenville orogeny had a major impact in Peru. The basement of the Central Andean orogeny includes the rocks of the Arequipa Massif, which reach granulite grade on the sequence of metamorphic facies and formed around 1.9 billion years ago. Zircon grains in these rocks match those in Labrador, Greenland and Scotland, indicating that much of western South America originated as a promontory of the proto-North American continent Laurentia.

Earthquakes

Notable earthquakes in Peruvian history include the following:

Date	Location	Mag.	MMI	Deaths	Injures	Notes
2019-05-26	Loreto	8.0 Mw	VIII	2	30	Moderate damage	[2]
2019-03-01	Puno	7.0 Mw	VI	1	2		[3]
2018-01-14	Arequipa	7.1 Mw	VII	2	139		[4]
2016-08-15	Arequipa	5.5 Mw		5
2014-09-27	Cusco	5.0 Mw	VII	8		60 homes damaged
2011-10-18	Huancavelica	6.9 Mw	VII	1			[5]
2007-08-15	Ica	8.0 Mw	VIII	519	1,366	Severe damage	[6]
2005-09-26	San Martín	7.5 Mw	VII	5	60
2001-06-23	Arequipa, Moquegua, Tacna	8.4 Mw	IX	74–145	2,713	Tsunami 7 m (23 ft)
1996-11-12	Ica	7.7 Mw	VIII	24		Severe damage	[7]
1996-02-21	Nazca	7.4 Mw	V	12		Moderate damage
1993-04-18	Lima	6.0 Mw		10
1991-04-04	Loreto	6.5 Mw	IX	100		Severe damage
1990-05-29	Amazonas	6.8 Mw	VIII	300		Great damage in Moyobamba
1986-04-06	Cuzco	6.1 Mw	VII	27
1979-02-16	Arequipa	6.8 Mw	VIII	100		Severe damage
1974-10-03	Lima	8.1 Mw	IX	78	2,400
1970-05-31	Ancash	7.9 Mw	VIII	66,794–70,000	50,000	Extreme damage, Major landslide
1970-02-14	Huanuco	6.1 Mw		14
1969-10-01	Junin	6.9 Mw		635		Severe damage
1966-10-17	Lima	8.1 Mw	IX	100
1960-11-20	Ica	7.8 Mw	VIII	13		Tsunami 9 m (30 ft)
1960-01-13	Arequipa	6.2 Mw		100
1958-01-15	Arequipa	7.0 Mw		69
1953-12-12	Tumbes	7.5 Mw	VIII	7	20
1950-05-21	Cuzco	7.0 Mw		1,625		Severe damage
1947-11-01	Junin	7.6 Mw		1,242
1946-11-10	Ancash	7.3 Mw	IX	2,400
1943-01-30	Cuzco	6.5 Mw		252
1942-08-24	Ica	8.2 Mw	IX	30		Tsunami 1.6 m
1940-05-24	Lima	8.2 Mw		562		Severe damage in Lima
1937-12-24	Pasco	6.8 Mw		194
1928-05-14	Chachapoyas	7.2 Mw	X	1,928
1917-05-21	Arequipa	6.1 Mw		32
1914-12-04	Ayacucho	6.7 Mw		400
1913-11-04	Apurímac	6.5 Mw		253
1877-05-09	Tarapaca	8.5 Mw	XI	2,385		Major Tsunami
1868-08-13	Arica	8.5–9.0 Mw	XI	25,000		Extreme damage, Major tsunami 16 m (52 ft)
1828-03-28	Lima	7.9 Ms		162
1746-10-28	Lima, Callao	8.6–8.8 Mw	XI	5,941		Major tsunami 24 m (80 ft)
1725-01-06	La Libertad	7.6 Mw		5,000
1687-10-20	Ica	8.7 Mw	X	5,000		Major tsunami
1650-05-12	Cuzco	7.7 Mw		460
1650-03-31	Arica	7.0 Ms		5,000
1619-02-14	La Libertad	8.6 Ms		7,364
1604-11-24	Arica	8.8 Mw		1,200
1586-07-09	Lima	8.6 Mw		22
The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described are also applicable to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded.

See also

• Geography of Peru

Sources

1. Tang, Alex K; Johnsson, JöRgen, eds. (2010), Pisco, Peru, Earthquake of August 15, 2007, doi:10.1061/9780784410615, ISBN 978-0-7844-1061-5
2. "M 8.0 - 78km SE of Lagunas, Peru". United Stated Geological Survey. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
3. "M 7.0 - 23km NNE of Azangaro, Peru". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
4. "M 7.1 - 38km SSW of Acari, Peru". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
5. "M 6.9 - near the coast of central Peru". USGS. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
6. "M 8.0 - near the coast of central Peru". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
7. "M 7.7 - near the coast of central Peru". United Stated Geological Survey. Retrieved 2020-04-08.

External links

• Historic Worldwide Earthquakes
• Historic Peru Earthquakes