Earthquakes in Brazil: Unraveling the Mystery of Their Rare Occurrence

Despite being prone to various natural disasters such as floods, fires, and landslides, Brazil remarkably avoids significant incidents like earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, hurricanes, and tsunamis. This anomaly can be attributed to the country’s unique positioning on tectonic plates and its specific location on the globe. This blog article explores the curious case of earthquakes in Brazil and delves into the geological reasons behind their scarcity.

Earthquakes in Brazil

The tectonic plates are gigantic blocks of the Earth’s crust that float over the uppermost mantle of the planet. They move constantly, getting closer or distancing from each other.

Earthquakes happen because of the movement of these tectonic plates. Nonetheless, they can also occur because of volcanic activities and the collapse of the Earth’s internal structure. The plate motions cause a great amount of energy to accumulate on the surface of the Earth, causing it to tremble.

Earthquakes in Brazil are notably rare due to the country’s geographical positioning directly atop the South American tectonic plate, rather than at its edges where larger quakes are more frequently observed. This unique placement explains why significant seismic events are uncommon in Brazil, contrasting with regions situated along plate boundaries where earthquakes are a more regular occurrence.

But that does not mean the earth does not shake at all in Brazil. Rather, the seismic shocks observed in the country are mild. Moreover, they do not cause major damage or disasters.

The earth still shakes in Brazil

The website Earthquake Track reports that in the past 365 days, there have been 4 instances of earthquakes in Brazil, highlighting the country’s occasional seismic activity despite its general rarity. All of them were located on the west side of Brazil, close to Peru. In these countries, volcano activity and shock waves are much more common. Also according to the website, most of these earthquakes were considered moderate earthquakes of Magnitude around 4.5.

Researchers state that Magnitude 3 tremors occur twice per month on average in Brazil, while Magnitude 4 tremors happen twice a year. Magnitude 5 tremors, however, only occur once every 50 years in the country.