South American Plate
Nearly all of the territory of Chile lies above the convergent boundary where the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate at a rate of about 71 mm per year. Earthquakes occur along the plate interface and in both the subducting and overriding plates. Within the South American Plate shallow earthquakes occur on reverse, normal and strike-slip faults. The subduction zone along the Chilean coast produced the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake. Some earthquakes which occurred near the epicentre of the 11 March 2010 event are the 1985 Algarrobo and Rapel Lake earthquakes.