Mw 9.5 Near Coast of Araucania, Chile

On 22 May 1960 a mega-thrust earthquake occurred near the coast of Araucania, Chile at a depth of 25 km. The seismic event occurred at 19:11:20 UTC and had an estimated moment magnitude (Mw) 9.5. It was preceded by several strong to major earthquakes in the region, including a great earthquake a day earlier.

On 17 May the planetary conjunction Mercury-Sun-Earth occurred, which was followed several hours later by the Sun's 90° with Mercury and Mars. An initial seismic increase occurred at the Ryukyu Islands, Japan (Mw 6.5) and Mauritius-Reunion Region (Mw 6.1). On the 20th the planetary conjunction Venus-Sun-Neptune occurred, immediately followed by a lunar peak, which resulted in a strong earthquake at Norfolk Island, Australia Region (Mw 6.5). The planetary conjunction with Venus was followed a day later by Mars-Mercury-Uranus while the Moon conjuncted Mars several hours earlier. This geometry is comparable to 1964. A great earthquake (Mw 8.1) occurred around the same time. After Venus' 90° with Earth and Uranus and the planetary conjunction Mercury-Sun-Jupiter early on the 22nd, strong to major tremors followed in the region ranging from Mw 6.8 to Mw 7.8, which finally led to the mega-thrust earthquake.

Mercury-Sun-Neptune       1960-05-14, 11:55:39  218°25'22"
Mercury-Sun-Earth         1960-05-17, 15:04:11  237°15'07"
Venus-Sun-Neptune         1960-05-20, 12:29:24  218°27'30"
Mars-Mercury-Uranus       1960-05-21, 15:05:56  141°42'49"
Mercury-Sun-Jupiter       1960-05-22,  8:32:19  266°57'27"

Mercury: Earth-Uranus     1960-05-15,  2:42:36   90°00'00"
Sun:     Mercury-Mars     1960-05-18,  3:47:35   90°00'00"
Venus:   Earth-Uranus     1960-05-22,  4:16:55   90°00'00"

Earth-Moon-Jupiter        1960-05-14,  1:59:31  273°17'27"
Earth-Moon-Saturn         1960-05-15,  3:06:44  288°44'08"
Moon-Earth-Uranus         1960-05-17,  3:55:48  137°43'14"
Earth-Moon-Mars           1960-05-20, 22:49:12    7°53'36"
Moon-Earth-Neptune        1960-05-23,  7:58:55  217°39'49"
					

SSGI COMMON graph of critical planetary (PG) and lunar (LG) geometry


SSGI SUM graph of critical planetary (PG) geometry