1888 RÃo de la Plata earthquake
On June 5th, 1888 kicked Clock 3.20 UTC -3 in the area of the Río de la Plata, an earthquake on.
It had a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter was on 34 ° 36 '0 "S, 57 ° 53 ' 59 " W - 34.6 - 57.899722222222Koordinaten: 34 ° 36 '0 "S, 57 ° 53' 59" W, about 15 kilometers southwest of the city of Colonia del Sacramento and 42 miles east of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, with the hypocenter at a depth of 30 kilometers.
The impact of the earthquake, which lasted 45-58 seconds, and the largest earthquake in the region were represented, in addition to the surrounding cities to feel among other things, in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo. Both in Buenos Aires and in Montevideo created yet lightweight structural damage. Furthermore, it triggered panic in the population.
The epicenter is in the range of an old grave breach, which dates from the time of the creation of the Atlantic and the departure of South America and Africa, but now come to rest is geologically ( Aulakogen ). The grave fracture runs along the La Plata estuary into the Atlantic between Uruguay and Argentina. There also occurred in August and September 1848 (thickness about 5 on the Modified Mercalliskala ) quake, and most recently in 1988 ( with a thickness of 5.1 Raumwellenmagnitude ). But the quake of 1888 was the strongest quake in the historical record in the La Plata region and in Uruguay. The main earthquake areas in Argentina are in the West in the Andean region, where, for example, in 1861 an earthquake destroyed the city of Mendoza with 6,000 deaths.