M5.1 earthquake 147 km NNE of Calama, Chile
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 147 km NNE of Calama, Chile on Thu, Jul 15, 2010, 10:25 PM GMT-4 (02:25 UTC), 120 km (75 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.1 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2010-07-16 02:25:23 UTC
- Depth
- 120.1 km (74.6 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 21.281° S, 68.244° W
- Region
- Chile
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Magnitude estimates
Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.09 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.1 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Felt (III) at Oficina Maria Elena and (II) at Tocopilla.
From the USGS event page for usp000hfbc. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
Fault motion and ground failure
How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.
- Faulting
- Oblique normal
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 245°, dip 27°, rake -35°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 7°, dip 75°, rake -113°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Station coverage gap
- 47°
- Stations used
- 220
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.1 and up: 3 in the 60 days after this one and 3 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.3153 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 5902 days ago · 118 km deep · 6 km away
- 4.1106 km NE of Calama, Chile · 5888 days ago · 95 km deep · 59 km away
- 5.1142 km N of Calama, Chile · 5885 days ago · 123 km deep · 70 km away · felt by 3
Before
Earthquakes todayChile earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000hfbc (also filed as gcmtc201007160225a, gcmt20100716022524, iscgem14992676). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 11:04 PM UTC.