Geologists presents explanation for smaller than expected tremor during the april 2014 Iquique earthquake
Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - 04:30
in Earth & Climate
Chile is one of the countries that is most at risk from damaging earthquakes. Therefore, no one was caught by surprise when a series of tremors struck the area around the northern Chilean city of Iquique in spring 2014. The main quake on 1 April reached a magnitude of 8.1 and triggered a tsunami. But experts were surprised that the quake was not as large and damaging as expected, and that it affected only a limited region. Geologists from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean", the German Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and the Institute of Marine Sciences (CSIC) in Barcelona (Spain) now presented a possible explanation for the smaller than expected tremor.