Archaeologists have found evidence of a magnitude 9.5 earthquake. It was the largest known in history
The earthquake occurred about 3,800 years agoin what is now northern Chile, when a tectonic plate fault raised the region's coastline. The tsunami that followed was so powerful that it created waves up to 20 meters high and reached New Zealand. Researchers found that flows of water threw boulders the size of cars hundreds of kilometers inland.
Until now, the strongest earthquake everThe only disaster ever recorded was the 1960 Valdivia disaster, which occurred in southern Chile with a magnitude of 9.4 to 9.6. As a result, up to 6,000 people died, and a tsunami swept across the Pacific Ocean. The rupture that caused the earthquake in Valdivia was huge, reaching 800 km in length. But as the scientists detailed in the study, the newly discovered ancient megaquake was even stronger because it was triggered by a rupture roughly 1,000 km long.
Evidence of a giant earthquakefound in marine and coastal sediments: boulders, pebbles and sand, which are characteristic of coastal areas. Scientists also examined sea shells that were found washed up far inland in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
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