View source for 1877 Iquique earthquake

{{Short description|Earthquake in Chile}}
{{Infobox earthquake
|title= 1877 Iquique earthquake
|pre-1900 = yes
|local-date= {{Start-date|May 9, 1877}}
|local-time = 21:16
|map2 = {{Location map+ | South America
| places =
{{Location map~|South America|lat=-20.22|long=-70.15|label=Iquique|position=right||label_size=120|mark=Blue pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|South America|lat=-33.45|long=-70.67|label=Santiago|position=right||label_size=120|mark=Blue pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|South America|lat=-19.6|long=-70.2|position=left||marksize=40|mark=Bullseye1.png}}
 | relief = yes
 | width = 250
 | float = right
 | caption = }}
|magnitude = 8.5 {{M|s|link=y}}, 8.7–8.9 {{M|w|link=y}}, 9.0 {{M|t|link=yes}}<ref name="Comte"/>
|depth=
|location={{coord|-19.6|-70.2|type:event|display=inline,title}}
|countries affected = [[Peru]], [[Tarapacá Region]] and [[Bolivia]], [[Antofagasta Region]] (both now part of [[Chile]])
|tsunami = Yes
|intensity = {{MMI|11}}
|casualties = 2,385}}
The '''1877 Iquique earthquake''' occurred at 21:16 local time on 9 May (0:59 on 10 May [[Coordinated universal time|UTC]]). It had a magnitude of 8.5 on the [[surface wave magnitude]] scale.<ref>{{in lang|es}} Servicio sismológico Universidad de Chile, [https://archive.today/20120629151808/http://ssn.dgf.uchile.cl/terremoto.html Sismos importantes o destructivos desde 1570].</ref> Other estimates of its magnitude have been as high as 8.9 {{M|w|link=yes}} and 9.0 {{M|t|link=yes}} (based on the size of the tsunami).<ref name="Comte"/> It had a maximum intensity of XI (Extreme) on the [[Mercalli intensity scale]]<ref name="NGDC_quake">{{cite web|url=http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?eq_0=2248&t=101650&s=13&d=22,26,13,12&nd=display|title=Comments for the Significant Earthquake|last=NGDC|accessdate=1 January 2011}}</ref> and triggered a devastating [[tsunami]]. A total of 2,385 people died,<ref name="NGDC_quake"/> mainly in [[Fiji]].

==Historical context==
Affected areas in what was then part of Bolivia, but is now the [[Antofagasta Region|Antofagasta region of Chile]], had during this period been subject to the [[Atacama border dispute|Atacama border dispute between the two countries]].  Under the [[War of the Pacific#Boundary Treaty of 1874|1874 boundary treaty]] between Bolivia and Chile, the border between the two nations as of 1877 followed the [[24th parallel south]].  The terms of that treaty required that Bolivia not levy taxes on Chilean companies mining [[nitrate]]s between the [[23rd parallel south|23rd]] and 24th parallels (including the city of [[Antofagasta]]) for 25 years, except for agreed duties to be shared between the two countries.<ref name="10centwar-page39">{{cite book|author=Bruce W. Farcau|title=The Ten Cents War: Chile, Peru, and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific, 1879–1884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BsxISMTwsSUC|year=2000|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-96925-7|pages=39, 40}}</ref>

Following extensive damage in the 1877 earthquake and tsunami, the municipal authorities in Antofagasta voted for a tax of [[Bolivian boliviano|10 centavos]] per [[quintal]] (approximately {{convert|46|kg|abbr=on|disp=or}}) of nitrates exported to fund reconstruction of the town.<ref name="10centwar-page39"/> The Chilean [[Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia|Antofagasta Nitrate & Railway Company]], a major nitrate mining company in the region, refused to pay, backed by the Chilean government.  This dispute resulted in the [[War of the Pacific]], fought from 1879 to 1884,<ref name="10centwar-page39"/> by which Chile gained control of territory as far north as [[Tacna]], including Bolivia's entire coastline.

==Tectonic setting==
Coastal regions of Peru and Chile lie above the [[convergent boundary]], where the [[Nazca Plate]] is being [[Subduction|subducted]] beneath the [[South American Plate]] along the line of the [[Peru–Chile Trench]]. The rate of convergence across this boundary is measured at about {{convert|8|cm|abbr=on}} per year. This boundary has been the site of many great [[megathrust earthquake]]s, in addition to events caused by faulting within both the subducting and over-riding plates.<ref name="Delouis"/>

==Damage==
The earthquake shaking caused significant damage over most of the coastal parts of the [[Tarapacá Region|Tarapacá]] and [[Antofagasta Region]]s. The tsunami caused a {{convert|10|m|abbr=on}} wave along about {{convert|500|km|abbr=on}} of coast, from [[Arica]] in the north to [[Mejillones]] in the south.<ref name="Hatori">{{cite journal|last=Hatori|first=T.|year=1968|title=Study on distant tsunamis along the Coast of Japan. Part 2, tsunamis of South American origin|journal=Bulletin of the Earthquake Research Institute|volume=46|pages=345–359|url=http://repository.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2261/12387/1/ji0462006.pdf|accessdate=2 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807132017/http://repository.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2261/12387/1/ji0462006.pdf|archive-date=2011-08-07|url-status=dead}}</ref> At Arica the water reached the [[cathedral]]. The hulk of the [[USS Wateree (1863)|U.S. gunboat ''Wateree'']], which had been beached hundreds of metres inland by the final wave of the tsunami triggered by the [[1868 Arica earthquake]], was moved several kilometres to the north along the coast and nearer the shoreline.<ref name="Kovach">{{cite book|last=Kovach|first=R.L.|title=Early earthquakes of the Americas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzmyiyI3_wIC&pg=PA138|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-82489-7|page=138}}</ref> The tsunami caused 2,000 deaths in [[Fiji]], and another 5 in [[Hilo, Hawaii]].<ref name="NGDC_runup"/>

==Characteristics==

===Earthquake===
The shaking lasted for five minutes at Caleta Pabellón de Pica, a coastal town {{convert|70|km|abbr=on}} south of [[Iquique]]. The area of felt intensity of VIII on the Mercalli intensity scale or greater, extended from about {{convert|50|km|abbr=on}} south of Arica to just south of [[Cobija]]. This indicates a rupture length of about {{convert|420|km|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Comte">{{cite journal|last=Comte|first=D.|author2=Pardo M.|year=1991|title=Reappraisal of Great Historical Earthquakes in the Northern Chile and Southern Peru Seismic Gaps|journal=Natural Hazards|volume=4|pages=23–44|doi=10.1007/bf00126557|s2cid=140190546}}</ref>

===Tsunami===
The tsunami affected the coasts of Peru and northern Chile and was observed across the [[Pacific Ocean]], in [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], [[Samoa]], [[Tonga]], [[Fiji]], [[Hawaii]], [[Mexico]], [[California]] and [[Japan]].<ref name="NGDC_runup">{{cite web|url=http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?EQ_0=1075&t=101650&s=9&d=92,183&nd=display|title=Tsunami Runups|last=NGDC|accessdate=31 December 2010}}</ref><ref>[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ODT18770512.2.15&srpos=419&e=11-08-1876-----10--411-byDA---0kaitangata-ARTICLE%2cILLUSTRATION- An oceanic perturbation], Otago Daily Times, Issue 4753, 12 May 1877, Page 2</ref> At Arica eight separate large waves were recorded.<ref name="NGDC_Arica">{{cite web|url=http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?EQ_0=1173&t=101650&s=10&d=185,186,76,78&nd=display|title=Comments for the Tsunami Runup – Arica|last=NGDC|accessdate=2 January 2011}}</ref>

==Future earthquake hazard==
The rupture area of the 1877 earthquake has been recognised as one of the major [[seismic gap]]s on the plate boundary, known as the "Northern Chile Seismic Gap". The {{M|w|link=y}} = 7.7 [[2007 Tocopilla earthquake]] occurred at the southern edge of the gap, but is not considered to have necessarily reduced the risk of a great megathrust earthquake within this area.<ref name="Delouis">{{cite journal|last=Delouis |first=B. |author2=Pardo M., Legrand D. & Monfret T. |year=2009 |title=The Mw 7.7 Tocopilla Earthquake of 14 November 2007 at the Southern Edge of the Northern Chile Seismic Gap: Rupture in the Deep Part of the Coupled Plate Interface |journal=Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=87–94 |doi=10.1785/0120080192 |url=http://www.saferproject.net/doc/publications_safer/Tocopilla_BSSA.pdf |bibcode=2009BuSSA..99...87D |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724051908/http://www.saferproject.net/doc/publications_safer/Tocopilla_BSSA.pdf |archivedate=24 July 2011 }}</ref> In 2005, a recurrence period of 135 years was estimated for great earthquakes along this part of the plate boundary, suggesting that a similar earthquake to the 1877 event was likely in the early 21st century.<ref name="Zamudio">{{cite web|url=http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers09-03/010040371.pdf|title=Seismic hazard assessment in the Peru-Chile border region|last=Zamudio|first=Y.|author2=Berrocal J. & Fernandes C.|year=2005|work=6th International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics (ISAG 2005, Barcelona), Extended Abstracts|pages=813–816|accessdate=2 January 2011}}</ref> The [[2014 Iquique earthquake]] struck in the same seismic gap with a magnitude of {{M|w}} = 8.2.

==See also==
* [[1868 Arica earthquake]]
* [[List of earthquakes in Chile]]
* [[List of historical earthquakes]]
* [[List of tsunamis]]
* [[List of megathrust earthquakes]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Earthquakes in Chile}}
{{Earthquakes in Peru}}

{{authority control}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=Megathrust earthquakes in Chile, Megathrust earthquakes in Peru, Earthquakes in Bolivia, 1877 tsunamis, Tsunamis in Japan, Tsunamis in New Zealand, History of Antofagasta Region, History of Tarapacá Region, Iquique Province, Tsunamis in Australia, May 1877 events, Tsunamis in Fiji
|description=
}}

[[Category:1877 earthquakes|Iquique]]
[[Category:Megathrust earthquakes in Chile]]
[[Category:Megathrust earthquakes in Peru]]
[[Category:Earthquakes in Bolivia]]
[[Category:1877 in Chile|Iquique]]
[[Category:1877 in Peru|Iquique]]
[[Category:1877 in Bolivia|Iquique]]
[[Category:1877 tsunamis]]
[[Category:Tsunamis in Japan]]
[[Category:Tsunamis in New Zealand]]
[[Category:History of Antofagasta Region]]
[[Category:History of Tarapacá Region]]
[[Category:Iquique Province]]
[[Category:Tsunamis in Australia]]
[[Category:May 1877 events]]
[[Category:Tsunamis in Fiji]]