An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 was recorded at 04:16 on 22 August (Italian time) in the Drake Strait. However, the Tsunami alert has been revoked and no damage to people or buildings are recorded.
A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.5 was recorded late on Thursday evening (when in Italy it was 04:16 on Friday 22 August) in the Drake Strait, the arm of the sea that separates the southern tip of South America from the Antarctic peninsula. The epicenter was located about 700 kilometers south of the land of fire, in a remote area without human settlements. The very superficial earthquake (with an estimated depth between 5 and 11 km), pushed the Chilean authorities to initially issue a tsunami alert, subsequently reduced to a simple state of precaution and then revoked. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also spread a preliminary notice, canceled within a few hours. Fortunately, there are no damage to people or infrastructures.
One year seismically active in Drake’s passage. This is the second earthquake of great intensity in this region in 2025. On 2 May, in fact, an earthquake of magnitude 7.4 had hit an area located about 500 kilometers north-west of yesterday’s event. The shocks of settlement of that earthquake still continue today, with a mix of thrust events, scrolls and vertical movements. However, according to seismologists, there is no direct connection between the two events.
A rare intraplacca earthquake. To make the earthquake of 22 August is its location: not along a well -known plaque margin, that is, where two plates collide or move away, but well inside the Antarctic plaque, in an ocean sector rarely the scene of earthquakes of this power. Most of the seismic events in the area, in fact, focus along the fracture of Shackleton, east, or at a ridge extinct to the west. This episode therefore represents the strongest intraplacca earthquake ever recorded in the Drake Strait.
It must be said, however, that the earthenmish of the ocean intraplaccas are not as rare as one might think and can reach very high magnitude. An emblematic case was the 2012 Indian Ocean sequence, which included a magnitude 8.6 earthquake, the most powerful of this type ever recorded with modern tools.
Tectonic stress in a geological crossroads. According to the first data, it is assumed that the shock has not been guided by elements already present in the crust, such as ancient or recent faults, but rather by an accumulation of stress more widespread in the ocean crust. A dynamic that, combined with previous events, is providing scientists with new indications on the state of overall tension in this remote geological crossroads, where they interact the South American plaque, the Antarctic one and the Microplacca of Scotia.
No risk for populations. The earthquake, despite the violence, has not had repercussions on the South American or Antarctic populations. No evacuation was necessary and, once the tsunami alert has been revoked, the event remained limited to scientific interest only.
