This megaquake caused 8,000 kilometres tsunami and prompted human populations to abandon nearby coastlines for 1,000 years, a new study reveals.
In a very important discovery, archaeologists have found evidence of the largest known earthquake in human history. The magnitude of this dangerous earthquake was 9.5 on the reactor scale. The cause of this devastating earthquake was the collision between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates.
This megaquake caused a 5,000-mile-long (8,000 kilometres) tsunami and prompted human populations to abandon nearby coastlines for 1,000 years, a new study finds. As a result of which there were tsunami waves 49 to 66 feet high.
This devastating earthquake struck Chile about 3,800 years ago, giving rise to waves 66 feet (20 metres) high and crashing into the Chilean Atacama Desert, which is also the driest desert in the world and travelled all the way to New Zealand.
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Professor Diego Salazar of Chile University has done the research in this regard. This study took about 7 years to complete and it was ascertained how many times such disasters affected the region in ancient times. Evidence of this terrible earthquake is visible from marine and coastal objects such as stones, pebbles and sand deposited on the coast.
Researchers say that all this evidence has been found in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Researchers used radio carbon dating method to find out the details about it. Archaeologist Diego Salazar says they believe that a large number of lives must have been lost in this devastating earthquake.
Else, due to this a large number of people may have been displaced and settled in other places. According to scientific estimates, after this earthquake, people had to stay away from the beaches for about one thousand years.
First recorded earthquake
The first recorded earthquake so far was in Valdivia in 1960. Its intensity was between 9.4 to 9.6.
This earthquake in southern Chile killed 6,000 people and caused repeated tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean.
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