According to a study conducted by scientists, some 3,800 years ago, a 9.5 magnitude earthquake struck Chile, causing waves as high as 66 feet to slam into Chile’s Atacama desert, the world’s driest desert.
According to a new study performed by University of Chile scholars, the earthquake was caused by a collision between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, which resulted in tsunami waves that were 49 to 66 feet tall.
“At various points along the coast of the regions of Antofagasta and northern Chile, in general, there are paleobeaches or ancient beaches located between 4 and 7 meters (13 and 23 feet) above current sea level, whose formation cannot be explained by global changes in sea level, but by tectonic uplift as a result of large earthquakes,” says geologist Gabriel Easton, one of the study’s leaders, in a conversation with Reuters.
He emphasized that the impact and severity of this years-old event must be considered when hazard and risk assessments are made in Chile’s northern area.
They believe the event caused a high rate of mortality among the population, culminating in mass migration to other areas.
The research took seven years to complete and was conducted to determine how frequently such calamities struck the region in ancient times. Chile has a long history of severe earthquakes, including one in 2010, which had a magnitude of 8.8 and triggered a devastating tsunami that killed hundreds in the country’s southern coastal communities.
