Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake in the Coquimbo Region of Chile.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake at a depth of 36.9 km, roughly 32 km to the southwest of the city of Ovale in Limari Province, part of the Atacama Coquimbo of Chile, slightly before 10.35 am local time (slightly before 1.35 pm GMT) on Thursday 12 February 2026. There are no reports of any damage or injuries associated with this event, but people have reported feeling it as far away as Santiago, 400 km to the south.

The location of the 12 February 2026 Coquimbo Earthquake. USGS.

Chile is located on the west coast of South America, which is also the convergent margin between the Nazca and South American Plates. The Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the South American Plate and is sinking beneath the South American Plate. This is not a smooth process, the rocks of the two plates continuously stick together then, as the pressure builds up, break apart again, causing Earthquakes. As the Nazca Plate sinks deeper it is partially melted by the heat of the Earth's interior. Some of the melted material then rises up through the overlying South American Plate as magma, fuelling the volcanoes of the Chilean Andes.

The subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate, and how it causes Earthquakes and volcanoes. Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center.

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Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake in the Atacama Region of Chile

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake at a depth of 76.6 km, roughly 52 km to the southwest of the city of Diego de Almagro in Chañaral Province, in the Atacama Region of Chile, at about 1.15 pm local time (about 5.15 pm GMT) on Friday 6 June 2025. There are no reports of any damage or injuries associated with this event, but people have reported feeling it as far suth as Santiago, 900 km to the south.

The location of the 6 June 2025 Atacama Earthquake. USGS.

Chile is located on the west coast of South America, which is also the convergent margin between the Nazca and South American Plates. The Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the South American Plate and is sinking beneath the South American Plate. This is not a smooth process, the rocks of the two plates continuously stick together then, as the pressure builds up, break apart again, causing Earthquakes. As the Nazca Plate sinks deeper it is partially melted by the heat of the Earth's interior. Some of the melted material then rises up through the overlying South American Plate as magma, fuelling the volcanoes of the Chilean Andes.

The subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate, and how it causes Earthquakes and volcanoes. Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center.

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Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake in Eduardo Abaroa Province, Bolivia.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake at a depth of 223 km in Eduardo Abaroa Province, Bolivia, slightly before  6.40 am local time (slightly before 10.40 am on Thursday 5 September 2024. Quakes at this depth are seldom dangerous, but are often felt over a wide area, and this one was reportedly felt on the coast of northern Chile.

The approximate location of the 5 September 2024 Eduardo Abaroa Province Earthquake. USGS.

Bolivia is located close to the west coast of South America, which is also the convergent margin between the Nazca and South American Plates. The Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the South American Plate and is sinking beneath the South American Plate. This is not a smooth process, the rocks of the two plates continuously stick together then, as the pressure builds up, break apart again, causing Earthquakes. As the Nazca Plate sinks deeper it is partially melted by the friction and the heat of the Earth's interior. Some of the melted material then rises up through the overlying South American Plate as magma, fuelling the volcanoes of the Bolivian Andes. 

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Eruption on Mount La Cumbre, Fernandina Island.

At about 11.50 pm local time on Saturday 2 March 2024, a circumferential fissure on the upper southeastern flank of Mount La Cumbre, an active shield volcano on Fernandina Island in the Galápagos Islands. The fissure propagated for between three and five kilometres, and produced gaseous emissions with a low ash content which rose to between two and three kilometres above the summit of the volcano. These emissions continued to about 4.00 am before subsiding, with lava also issuing from the fissure between about 0.45 and 1.35 am. Based upon satellite observations of the eruption, about 46 460 tons of sulphur dioxide were released from the fissure on 3 March, with a further 24 000 of sulphur dioxide being released on 4 March, and about 2228 tons on 5 March. Lava continued to flow down the flanks of the mountain over this time, reaching 7.9 km from the fissure by Wednesday 6 March.

Lava issuing from a fissure on the side of Mount La Cumbre, Fernandina Island, on 3 March 2024. Andy Torres/Parque Nacional Galápagos/Getty Images.

The volcanos of the Galapagos are fuelled by a mantle plume, the Galapagos Hotspot, an upwelling of hot magma from deep within the Earth’s mantle which pierces the overlying Nazca Plate, and moves independently of it. This plume transverses the plate at a rate of 0.46 degrees per million years, which has led to the formation of the string of volcanoes which form the Galapagos Islands. However, analysis of the geochemical composition of the lavas of Wolf Volcano, one of the Galapagos volcanoes, has shown that these are distinct from the lavas of the neighbouring Ecuador and Darwin volcanoes, but show strong similarities to lavas produced on the Galapagos Spreading Centre over 200 km to the north, a trait shared with lavas from other Galapagos volcanoes, most notably Santa Cruz and Genovesa, suggesting that there is some interplay between these two sources.

The relative positions of the Galapagos Islands and Galapagos Spreading Center. School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology/University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake in Colombia results in at least one death.

The Colombian National Geological Service recorded a Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake at a depth of 30.0 km, beneath the town of El Calvario in Meta Department, about 90 km to the northeast of Bogatá, slightly before 12.05 pm local time on Thursday 27 August 2023 (slightly after 5.05 pm GMT). There are no reports of any damage associated with this event, though a woman is reported to have died while trying to evacuate a 10 story building in Bogatá.

The approximate location of the 17 August 2023 Colombia Earthquake. USGS.

Colombia 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 Colombia and neighbouring countries.

The subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate, and how it causes Earthquakes and volcanoes. SIO SEARCH.

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Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake off the northern coast of Panama and Colombia.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake at a depth of 13.0 km, off the Caribbean coasts of Panama and Colombia, about 50 km to the northeast of the border between the two countries, slightly after 10.05 pm local time on Wednesday 24 May 2023 (slightly after 3.05 am on Thursday 25 May, GMT). There are no reports of any damage or casualties associated with this event, though it was felt across much of northern Colombia, Panama and parts of Costa Rica.

The approximate location of the 24 May 2023 Pananma/Colombia Earthquake. USGS.

The event happened close to the triple junction between the Panama, Caribbean, and South American plates. All three plates are drifting to the northwest, being pushed by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean, and to a lesser extent the eastward movement of the Nazca Plate, which is being subducted beneath the South American Plate along the west coast of South America. However, the South American Plate is moving somewhat faster than the other two plates, causing the Panama Plate to be pushed to the west, creating a transform plate margin, as the Panama Plate moves west relative to the Caribbean Plate, along the northern coast of Panama, and a subductive plate margin, as the Caribbean Plate is forced under the advancing South American Plate, along the northern coast of Colombia. 

The tectonic plates underlying Central America and the surrounding areas. Wikimedia Commons.

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