The 2008 Papudo earthquake was an earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 registered on Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 15:40:53 UTC (12:40:53 local time). Its epicenter

Epicenter

The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates...

 was located near the locality of Papudo

Papudo

Papudo is a Chilean commune located in the Petorca Province, Valparaíso Region. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Papudo has 4,608 inhabitants . Of these, 4,343 lived in urban areas and 265 in rural areas...

, affecting all of Chile between Illapel

Illapel

Illapel is a Chilean city, which is the capital of the Choapa Province, Coquimbo Region. It lies along the Illapel River and marks the country's narrowest point along a parallel .It's located to the east of Los Vilos.-Administration:...

 and Rancagua

Rancagua

Rancagua is a city and commune in central Chile, part of the Rancagua conurbation. It is the capital of the Cachapoal Province and of the O'Higgins Region, located south of the national capital of Santiago. It had a 2002 population of 214,344...

. The earthquake had a moment magnitude

Moment magnitude scale

The moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released. The magnitude is based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the rigidity of the Earth multiplied by the average amount of slip on the fault and the size of...

 of 6.8 and lasted about 1 minute.

The earthquake is likely to have been produced by the release of stresses generated by the subduction of Juan Fernández Ridge

Juan Fernández Ridge

The Juan Fernández Ridge is a volcanic island and seamount chain on the Nazca Plate. It runs in a west-east direction from the Juan Fernández hotspot to the Peru-Chile Trench at a latitude of 33° S near Valparaíso. The Juan Fernández Islands are the only seamounts that reach the surface....

 at the oceanic Nazca plate

Nazca Plate

]The Nazca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction along the Peru-Chile Trench of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate is largely responsible for the...

 beneath the South American Plate

South American Plate

The South American Plate is a continental tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America and also a sizeable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge....

.

See also

• 2007 Antofagasta earthquake
  2007 Antofagasta earthquake
  The 2007 Tocopilla earthquake was an earthquake registered on November 14, 2007 at 15:40:53 UTC . Its epicenter was located between the localities of Quillagua and Tocopilla, affecting the Tarapacá and the Antofagasta regions in northern Chile. The earthquake had a moment magnitude of 7.7 and...
  
  
• 2007 Aysen Fjord earthquake
• 2007 Puchuncaví earthquake
  2007 Puchuncaví earthquake
  The 2007 Punchuncaví earthquake was a quake on December 15, 2007 at 15:22 local time on the coast of the Valparaíso Region, Chile. Had a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale....
  
  
• Great Chilean Earthquake
  Great Chilean Earthquake
  The 1960 Valdivia earthquake or Great Chilean Earthquake of Sunday, 22 May 1960 is to date the most powerful earthquake ever recorded on Earth, rating 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale...
  
  
• List of earthquakes in Chile

External links

• http://www.onemi.cl Oficina Nacional de Emergencia