Strong mag. 6.9 earthquake - Departamento de Los Andes, 207 km northwest of Salta, Departamento Capital, Salta, Argentina, on Sunday, February 21, 1971 at 10:35 GMT
Quake Data | Interactive map | User Reports | Aftershocks | Earlier quakes here | Quakes in Argentina | Quakes in Chile | Salta | Jujuy | Antofagasta | Tucuman


Strong magnitude 6.9 earthquake at 184 km depth
1 Jan 00:00 UTC: First to report: USGS after 30 seconds.
Earthquake details
Date & time | Feb 21, 1971 10:35:22 UTC |
Local time at epicenter | |
Status | Confirmed |
Magnitude | 6.9 |
Depth | 183.7 km |
Epicenter latitude / longitude | 23.804°S / 67.151°W ![]() |
Antipode | 23.804°N / 112.849°E |
Shaking intensity | Moderate shaking near epicenter |
Felt | 0 reports |
Primary data source | USGS (United States Geological Survey) |
Nearest volcano | Laco (36 km / 22 mi) |
Nearby towns and cities | 96 km (60 mi) WNW of San Antonio de los Cobres (pop: 4,000) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 193 km (120 mi) WNW of Jujuy (pop: 305,900) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 203 km (126 mi) WNW of Palpala (Jujuy) (pop: 48,200) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 207 km (129 mi) WNW of Salta (pop: 512,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 235 km (146 mi) SE of Calama (Antofagasta, Chile) (pop: 143,100) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 237 km (147 mi) W of San Pedro de Jujuy (pop: 58,400) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 241 km (149 mi) W of Libertador General San Martin (Jujuy) (pop: 49,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 298 km (185 mi) WSW of Oran (pop: 74,100) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 371 km (231 mi) WSW of Tartagal (pop: 60,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 388 km (241 mi) NNW of San Miguel de Tucuman (Tucumán) (pop: 781,000) | Show on map | Quakes nearby |
Estimated seismic energy released | 1.4 x 1015 joules (392 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 3.4 x 105 tons of TNT or 21.1 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy |
Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies
Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag. | Depth | Location | Source |
6.9 | 184 km | Jujuy, Argentina | USGS |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Aftershocks
[More info]
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (1 quake)
Date and time![]() | Mag Depth | Location | Details |
Jun 29, 1971 06:01 51 years ago | 5.6 80 km | 182 km E of Antofagasta, Chile | More |
Earlier earthquakes in the same area
Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!