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The biggest earthquake in human history caused a 5,000-mile tsunami
A team of archaeologists has discovered evidence of the largest megaquake in human history.
Education
What we know about earthquakes has just gotten an update.
A team of archaeologists has discovered evidence of the largest megaquake in human history.
The earthquake struck about 3,800 years ago in what is now northern Chile when a tectonic plate rupture raised the region's coastline. Its devastating repercussions drove human populations away from neighboring coastlines for 1,000 years.
Researchers from the University of Southampton stated that it was a horrifying magnitude-9.5 megaquake that unleashed a tsunami with waves as high as 66 feet (20 meters) that traveled more than 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) to New Zealand, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 9.5
An earthquake occurs when two tectonic plates collide and rupture, with larger earthquakes resulting from longer ruptures. While several earthquakes have wreaked havoc on Earth in recent years, the power of the Kashmir Earthquake in 2005 to the Haiti Earthquake in 2010 pale in comparison to this huge earthquake that hit northern Chile 3,800.