2017 Valparaiso, Chile earthquake data

In April 2017, a sequence of earthquakes offshore Valparaíso, Chile, raised concerns of a potential megathrust earthquake in the near future. The largest event in the 2017 sequence was a M6.9 on April 24th, seemingly co-located with the last great-sized earthquake in the region—a M8.0 in March 1985. The history of large earthquakes in this region shows significant variation in rupture size and extent, typically highlighted by a juxtaposition of large ruptures interspersed with smaller magnitude sequences. We show that the 2017 sequence ruptured an area between the two main slip patches during the 1985 earthquake, re-rupturing a patch that had previously slipped during the October 1973 M6.5 earthquake sequence. A significant gap in historic ruptures exists directly to the south of the 2017 sequence, with large enough moment deficit to host a great-sized earthquake in the near future, if it is locked.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
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identifier USGS:59a5794ae4b0fa5ae7c7803e
metadata_type geospatial
modified 20200818
old-spatial -71.6623287, -33.0835991, -71.5597684, -33.0178165
publisher U.S. Geological Survey
publisher_hierarchy Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
resource-type Dataset
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source_hash 35f3769a148320bf245d97a7c8e10d1210e454f5
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spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-71.6623287, -33.0835991], [-71.6623287, -33.0178165], [ -71.5597684, -33.0178165], [ -71.5597684, -33.0835991], [-71.6623287, -33.0835991]]]}
theme {geospatial}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • ckan
  • earth-science
  • earthquake-hazard
  • earthquake-hazards-program
  • ehp
  • geo
  • geologic-hazards-science-center
  • geoss
  • ghsc
  • great-sized-earthquake
  • megathrust-earthquake
  • national
  • north-america
  • united-states
  • usgs
  • usgs-59a5794ae4b0fa5ae7c7803e
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer Gavin Hayes
maintainer_email ghayes@usgs.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-20T09:53:51.083660
metadata_modified 2025-11-20T09:53:51.083664
notes In April 2017, a sequence of earthquakes offshore Valparaíso, Chile, raised concerns of a potential megathrust earthquake in the near future. The largest event in the 2017 sequence was a M6.9 on April 24th, seemingly co-located with the last great-sized earthquake in the region—a M8.0 in March 1985. The history of large earthquakes in this region shows significant variation in rupture size and extent, typically highlighted by a juxtaposition of large ruptures interspersed with smaller magnitude sequences. We show that the 2017 sequence ruptured an area between the two main slip patches during the 1985 earthquake, re-rupturing a patch that had previously slipped during the October 1973 M6.5 earthquake sequence. A significant gap in historic ruptures exists directly to the south of the 2017 sequence, with large enough moment deficit to host a great-sized earthquake in the near future, if it is locked.
num_resources 2
num_tags 18
title 2017 Valparaiso, Chile earthquake data