Comparing Liquefaction Phenomena Observed during the 2010 Maule, Chile Earthquake and 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

On February 27, 2010, the central-south part of Chile was affected by a strong ground motion of Magnitude 8.8, that induced moderate values of peak ground acceleration (PGA) on rock outcrops, in the range of 0.13g to 0.32g, while in soil deposits, a maximum PGA of 0.94g was recorded. The duration of the shaking was close to two minutes as it is substantiated by the available acceleration records. A significant number of sites experienced the phenomenon of liquefaction, causing failures of houses, buildings, bridges, routes, ports, railways, buried structures and tailings dams. Likewise, widely spread soil liquefaction was also observed during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The ground motions of this earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks also had long duration. In this paper, the effects of durations of seismic shaking on the liquefaction-induced damages are highlighted, and compared between the 2010 Chile earthquake and the 2011 Japan earthquake. Especially, the damages induced by liquefaction observed in bridges and ports in Chile are presented and analyzed. Additionally, several cases of lateral spreading observed along rivers and lakes are presented.