The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake at a depth of 50.6 km, roughly 10 km to the southwest of the city of Mala in Islay Province, Peru, slightly before 9.55 pm local time on Tuesday 22 June 2021 (slightly before 2.55 am on Wednesday 23 June, GMT). There are no reports of any damage or casualties associated with this event, although it was felt on the coast of central Peru.
Peru is on the west coast of South America and the western margin of the South American Plate, close to where the Nazca Plate, which underlies part of the east Pacific, is being subducted along the Peru-Chile Trench. The Nazca Plate passes under the South American Plate as it sinks into the Earth, this is not a smooth process and the plates repeatedly stick together then break apart as the pressure builds up, causing Earthquakes. As the Nazca Plate sinks further it is partially melted by the friction and the heat of the Earth's interior. Some of this melted material then rises through the overlying South American Plate, fuelling the volcanoes of Peru and neighbouring countries.
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