The ongoing interaction between these two plates has resulted in Ecuador experiencing numerous strong earthquakes including a magnitude 8.2 earthquake on Dec. 12, 1979 (300-600 deaths), and an 8.8 magnitude earthquake on January 31, 1906 (approximately 1,000 deaths).
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Earthquakes and Tectonic Plates
You have access to all the layers in The Layered Earth. To view the earthquake and tectonic plate layers:
- Click on the Layer List button located on the right side of the main window.
- Expand the EARTHQUAKES layer by clicking on the expand layer arrow icon.
- Click on the check box beside USGS Historical Earthquakes. You will now see a global view of all earthquakes since 1900. Shallow depth earthquakes (0-70 km/0-44 miles) are marked by red dots, intermediate depth earthquakes (70-300 km/44-186 miles) are marked by yellow dots, and deep earthquakes (greater than 300 km/186 miles) are marked by green dots.
- Clicking on the Settings button to the right brings up a small screen with sliders that allows you to manipulate the kind of earthquake data that is visible on the screen.
- To add in the tectonic plate outlines, navigate through the following subdirectories:
PLATE TECTONICS → TECTONIC PLATES → TECTONIC PLATE OUTLINES - Expand the COLORED layer and click the Outline and Label checkboxes for each tectonic plate listed.
- Click here to view a Plate Velocity map. Vectors and color are used to represent plate velocities.
Earthquakes in this region are produced as a result of the Nazca Plate, a heavy oceanic plate, sliding under the South American Plate, a lighter continental plate. This process, where one tectonic plate slides under another one, is known as subduction. The Nazca Plate is slowly being subducted eastward under the South American Plate at a rate of 61 mm/year (2.1 in/year).
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Plate Velocity
You have access to all the layers in The Layered Earth. To view the plate velocity layer:
- Click on the Layer List button located on the right side of the main window.
- Navigate to: PLATE TECTONICS → TECTONIC PLATES → PLATE VELOCITY
- Expand the Velocity Map layer and select Base Image. Then expand the Plate Velocity Vectors layer and select Base Image. Finally, click on Scale to toggle it on.