Drake Passage earthquake now: powerful M7.6–7.8 jolt shakes waters off South America, tsunami threat lifted
A powerful earthquake in the Drake Passage late Friday has dominated the weekend’s geophysical picture, with international agencies placing its magnitude between 7.6 and 7.8 and locating the epicenter in the remote corridor separating Cape Horn from the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. As of Sunday, the tsunami advisories initially triggered after the shock have been lifted, and no significant damage has been confirmed on the nearest populated coasts of southern Chile and Argentina due to the quake’s offshore location.
Drake Passage earthquake: where and when it struck
The quake struck at approximately 20:29 UTC on October 10, shaking one of the stormiest and least inhabited maritime chokepoints on Earth. The hypocenter was shallow—around 10 km—amplifying the energy released into the surrounding ocean. While the Drake Passage is best known to mariners for violent seas, it also sits near a complex boundary zone where the Scotia Plate interacts with the Antarctic and South American plates, a setting capable of strong, occasionally tsunamigenic earthquakes.
Key figures at a glance
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Time (UTC): 20:29, Friday, October 10
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Magnitude: 7.6–7.8 (method-dependent estimates)
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Depth: ~10 km
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Nearest land: Hundreds of kilometers from Ushuaia, Argentina, and the Magallanes region of Chile
Tsunami alerts and the current status
Immediately after the mainshock, regional bulletins flagged the possibility of hazardous waves within roughly 1,000 km of the epicenter. Through late Friday into Saturday, modeling and observations indicated the energy dispersing without generating damaging run-ups along populated coasts. By Saturday, agencies had cancelled previous alerts, leaving only routine monitoring in place. Ferry operations and scientific stations across the sub-Antarctic kept a close watch, but there were no confirmed reports of coastal impacts or injuries tied to this event.
Timeline of the alerts (all times UTC)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 20:29, Oct 10 | Major earthquake detected in Drake Passage |
| + minutes | Initial tsunami bulletins note potential hazards within 1,000 km |
| Hours later | Sea-level gauges and models show limited impact; messages are progressively downgraded |
| Oct 11 | Tsunami threat to mainland coasts cancelled; standard monitoring continues |
Why a Drake Passage earthquake matters
Even without widespread damage, a major quake here is consequential. The Drake Passage is a critical gateway for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current—the planet’s most voluminous ocean flow—and any seafloor deformation can briefly perturb local circulation, iceberg drift patterns, and scientific logistics. Seismically, the event offers a rare, high-quality dataset for understanding the Scotia Plate’s stress regime, where reverse and strike-slip mechanisms can both occur. The shallow depth also makes it an important case study for tsunami potential in remote ocean basins with sparse instrumentation.
Aftershocks, models, and what to watch next
Over the coming days, a sequence of aftershocks is likely as the crust adjusts to the mainshock’s stress redistribution. Most will be small and far from population centers, but mariners and Antarctic programs will keep standard precautions in place. Scientists will scrutinize:
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Focal mechanism solutions to refine whether compression or oblique motion dominated.
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Sea-level records from high-latitude gauges to validate and improve tsunami models in the Southern Ocean.
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Crustal coupling along nearby faults, assessing whether stress has been transferred toward segments closer to Tierra del Fuego or the South Shetland microplates.
big quake, limited exposure—this time
The Drake Passage earthquake underscores a familiar paradox: extreme geologic energy released where very few people live. Its remoteness acted as a natural safety buffer, but the magnitude is a reminder that the Scotia–Antarctic margins can produce events capable of broader impact under different geometry or tide states. For now, coastal communities can exhale; the bigger takeaway lands with scientists, ship operators, and Antarctic planners who will mine this event for insights that make the next “what if” easier to forecast.
