Reappraisal of great historical earthquakes in the northern Chile and southern Peru seismic gaps

Abstract

A critical reappraisal of great historical interplate earthquakes in the occidental margin of South America, including southern Peru and northern Chile, is carried out. A spacetime distribution of the earthquakes associated to the seismotectonics regions defined by the rupture zones of the greatest events (1868, Mw = 8.8 and 1877, Mw = 8.8) is obtained. Both regions are seismic gaps that are in the maturity state of their respective earthquake cycles. The region associated to the 1868 earthquake presents a notable seismic quiescence in the present century. © 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers.