6.8 Chile earthquake strikes off the coast
6.8 Chile earthquake: The USGS revised the original report of a 6.8 earthquake down to 6.5. The earthquake struck off Chile Monday morning. No tsunami warning was issued.
6.8 Chile earthquake: The USGS revised the original report of a 6.8 earthquake down to 6.5. The earthquake struck off Chile Monday morning. No tsunami warning was issued.
聽The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-6.5 earthquake has struck off the coast of Chile. The USGS initially reported at 6.8 earthquake.
The quake was recorded at 5:49 a.m. local time (EDT; 0949 GMT) Monday, at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), some 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the city of Puerto Quellon. No tsunami warning was issued.
Chile's naval seismology office says it was not felt on land. U.S. seismologists originally estimated the magnitude at 6.8.
Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude-8.8 quake and the tsunami it unleashed in 2010 killed 551 people and destroyed 220,000 homes. It was so strong it changed time, shortening the Earth's day slightly by changing the planet's rotation.
The quakes in the area are the result of the collision of plates, specifically between the subducting Nazca plate and the South America plate, where the oceanic crust and lithosphere of the Nazca plate begin their descent into the mantle beneath South America, according to the USGS.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.