Ecuadorian Magnitude 4.4 Earthquake Part of April 14, 2016 Cluster

area map for April 14, 2016, earthquake centered near Palora, Ecuador: USGS, Public Domain, via USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

Seismologists at the United States Geological Survey are giving the Ecuadorian magnitude 4.4 earthquake recorded April 14, 2016, at 18:24:01 Ecuador Time (ECT) and 23:24:01 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) remote southeastern occurrences.

The earthquake brings to a total of five the final tally of quakes, magnitude 1.5 or greater, occurring since 12:01 ECT (5:01 UTC) in South America. USGS seismologists calculate the depth of the earthquake at 105.01 miles (169 kilometers) below the surface at a location 26.09 miles (42 kilometers) southeast of Palora. They describe a placement 35.42 miles (57 kilometers) northeast of Macas, 41.63 miles (67 kilometers) south-southeast of Puyo and 67.73 miles (109 kilometers) east-southeast of Riobamba.

Quito, national capital 134.22 miles (216 kilometers) north-northwest of the site of occurrence, ends up as the city with the greatest name recognition outside the Republic.

The Ecuadorian magnitude 4.4 earthquake fits into the intermediate-depth category, one of three zones that USGS seismologists establish to describe the subsurface aspects of seismic activity.

Chile’s 4.3-magnitude earthquake at 12:44:53 ECT (17:44:53 UTC) and 6.21 miles (10 kilometers) underground 44.74 miles (72 kilometers) west-northwest of La Ligua gets a shallow-depth classification. Peru’s magnitude 4.4 quake at 22:50:46 ECT (17:50:46 UTC) and 53.44 miles (86 kilometers) underground 31.07 miles (50 kilometers) south-southeast of Matucana has an intermediate-depth classification. Argentina’s magnitude 4.7 tremor at 2:35:04 ECT (7:35:04 UTC) and 74.56 miles (120 kilometers) underground 22.37 miles (36 kilometers) east-northeast of Calingasta likewise is deemed intermediate-depth.

The magnitude 5.1 tremor, from 67.73 miles (109 kilometers) underground at 4:38:44 ECT (9:38:44 UTC), jars Chile from 19.26 miles (31 kilometers) south-southeast of Puente Alto.

An arc more than 4,349.59 miles (7,000 kilometers) in length keeps Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru seismically active and makes possible the Ecuadorian magnitude 4.4 earthquake. It labels on tectonic summary maps the point where the Nazca oceanic plate’s crust and lithosphere start going beneath the South America plate’s western continental portion.

The northerly part of the Nazca Plate moves northeastward at a yearly rate of 2.56 inches (65 millimeters), in contrast to the southerly’s 3.15 inches (80 millimeters). USGS seismologists note South American occurrences of frequent, large earthquakes in the shallow-depth zone of zero to 43.49 miles (0 to 70 kilometers) below the surface. The USGS analyses obtain a shallow, 20.52-mile (33-kilometer) depth May 22, 1960, for Chile’s Valdivia magnitude 9.5 quake, “the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in the world.”

South America’s intermediate-depth earthquakes, at zones 43.49 to 186.41 miles (70 to 300 kilometers) below the surface, generally produce “relatively limited” impacts over more restricted areas. Northern Chile and southwestern Bolivia primarily and northern Peru and southern Ecuador secondarily qualify for cluster-occurring, intermediate-depth earthquakes at 68.35- to 80.78-mile- (110- to 130-kilometer-) depths.

Deep-focus earthquake-producing zones run 310.68 to 403.89 miles (500 to 650 kilometers) below the surfaces at the Brazil-Peru border and from central Argentina to central Bolivia. Chile’s 7.8-magnitude Tarapacá earthquake June 13, 2005, and Bolivia’s 8.2-magnitude Amazon jungle quake June 9, 1994, serve as recent examples of respectively intermediate-depth- and deep-focus-generated tremors.

The Ecuadorian magnitude 4.4 earthquake tends to meet expectations as part of a cluster even though its occurrence is away from the earthquake-prone Chile-Peru coastal bend.

U.S. Geological Survey seismologists place the April 14, 2016, Palora earthquake at a depth of 105.01 miles (169 kilometers): Earthquake Update @EarthquakeView via Twitter April 15, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

April 14, 2016, Palora, Ecuador earthquake: USGS, Public Domain, via USGS Earthquake Hazards Program @ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us20005i7p#general

U.S. Geological Survey seismologists place the April 14, 2016, Palora earthquake at a depth of 105.01 miles (169 kilometers): Earthquake Update @EarthquakeView via Twitter April 14, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/EarthquakeView/status/720765856456646656

For further information:

Earthquake Update @EarthquakeView. 14 April 2016. "Earthquake : M 4.4 - 46km SE of Palora, Ecuador: DYFI? - ITime2016-04-14 23:24:01 UTC2016-04-14 18:24:01 -05:00 at... dlvr.it/L3fQj3." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/EarthquakeView/status/720765856456646656

“M4.3 – 42km SE of Palora, Ecuador.” United States Geological Survey > Earthquake Hazards Program > General Summary.
Available @ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us20005i7p#general