Ecuador, located in South America, is effected by earthquakes that result from subduction within the South American and Nazca plate boundaries. Geologists describe the region as having a convergent plate boundary which forms a thrust fault across the Andres region. This set of plate boundaries are quite unpredictable because the Nazca plate is being driven beneath the South American plate, approximately 61 millimeters per year. On April 16th, 2016, a catastrphophic magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck leaving an estimated 250,00 people without a home and at least 270 people dead. Unfortunately the region has a history of experiencing large quakes due to the uneven convergent boundary. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) listed seven earthquakes that were larger than a magnitude seven. These events took place within 150 miles of this quake beginning in 1900.
References:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ecuador-quake-is-on-a-fault-that-generates-monster-shakers/
http://www.popsci.com/deadly-magnitude-78-earthquake-strikes-ecuador
Yes, the subduction sone on the west will make things very shaky for the country...they had a big quake not that long ago...see USGS map below.
ReplyDeletehttps://natgeoeducationblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/20160416.jpg