Kathmandu, April 20. A team of researchers from the University of Southampton has uncovered truths about the largest earthquake that occurred 3,800 years ago in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile.

According to a study published in the Science Advances journal, an earthquake as massive as any in recorded history rocked the coast of Chile around 3800 years ago, generating a tsunami that wreaked havoc along a 1000-kilometer stretch of coastline.

‘The tsunami was so large that it traveled more than 5,000 kilometers to reach New Zealand.’

The research entailed a thorough assessment of the different layers of material deposited by the enormous tsunami. The charcoal, shells, and archaeological sediments were all radiocarbon dated.

Large earthquakes are common in southern Chile. This is due to the fact that Chile’s coast is located on a subduction zone where one of the tectonic plates is forced below another. The previous record for the greatest known earthquake occurred in Southern Chile in 1960. The 9.4-magnitude Valdivia earthquake struck Lumaco, 744 kilometers from Santiago, killing an estimated 6,000 people in under ten minutes.

The 3,800-year-old earthquake had properties that were similar to that of the 1960 earthquake.

Lead author Dr. Gabriel Easton, Oceanographer at the University of Chile said, “The Tsunami encouraged local hunter-gatherers in Chile to leave the coast and reside towards inland areas… It took at least 1,000 years for them to return to shore living.” The discovery of remnants of ancient buildings indicated settlements before the super earthquake.

Click here to read the detailed research article entitled “Did a 3800-year-old Mw ~9.5 earthquake trigger major social disruption in the Atacama Desert?” published in Science Advances Journal on April 06, 2022.