Symmetry and tendency judgment of Ms ≥ 8.0 strong earthquakes in Chile

:The Ms ≥ 8.0 strong earthquakes occurring in Chile since 1800 were analyzed using the ternary, quaternary, and quinary commensurability methods and the butterfly structure diagram, and it was believed that the earthquake signal in Chile in 2014 is relatively strong, a large earthquake is likely to occur in Chile in 2014. An analysis of spatial epicenter migrations showed that the longitudinal and latitudinal epicenter migrations have symmetry and synchronism, and there were five obvious northward migrations and four southward migrations. The symmetry axis of the longitudinal migrations is at about 71. 7° W and that of the latitudinal migrations is at about 30° S; these spatial symmetry axes are located at the subduction zone on the western margin of South America, where two major plates (the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate) converge.