Moderate mag. 5.0 earthquake - La Rioja, Argentina, on Friday, 17 February 1978 at 17:52 (GMT)

Moderate mag. 5.0 earthquake - La Rioja, Argentina, on Friday, 17 February 1978 at 17:52 (GMT)

Moderate magnitude 5.0 earthquake at 139 km depth

Date & time: 17 Feb 1978 17:52:27 UTC
Magnitude: 5
Depth: 139.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 28.684°S / 69.084°W (Argentina)
Nearest volcano: Incapillo (92 km / 57 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
86 km (53 mi) W of Vinchina (pop: 2,830) --> See nearby quakes!
163 km (102 mi) WNW of Chilecito (pop: 42,200) --> See nearby quakes!
164 km (102 mi) E of Vallenar (Chile) (pop: 44,900) --> See nearby quakes!
176 km (109 mi) N of San José de Jachal (pop: 21,000) --> See nearby quakes!
191 km (119 mi) SE of Copiapo (Chile) (pop: 129,300) --> See nearby quakes!
232 km (144 mi) WNW of La Rioja (pop: 162,600) --> See nearby quakes!
322 km (200 mi) N of San Juan (pop: 447,000) --> See nearby quakes!
323 km (201 mi) W of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca (pop: 188,800) --> See nearby quakes!
433 km (269 mi) WSW of Tucuman (pop: 781,000) --> See nearby quakes!
1208 km (751 mi) WNW of Buenos Aires (pop: 13,076,300) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 2 x 1012 joules (554 megawatt hours, equivalent to 477 tons of TNT) More info
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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.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
M 5.0139 kmLa Rioja, ArgentinaUSGS
Note: for quakes of 2012 and earlier, our database often contains only records from USGS.

User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
There are no user reports for this quake yet. If you felt it be the first to report it!
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Aftershocks of the 5.0 quake La Rioja, Argentina, 17 February 1978 17:52 GMT

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (0 quakes):
So far, no aftershocks have been registered.
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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Moderate mag. 5.0 earthquake - La Rioja, Argentina, on Friday, 17 February 1978 at 17:52 (GMT)
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