Thanks for the follow-up Chris, and your confirmations of my speculations! I can see why a 1400 kilometer-long rupture would be difficult to swallow at first, but, OTOH, its length was pretty much a necessary consequence of its known magnitude. I believe the 1960 Chile M9.5 rupture length was around 1000km, so they should've known such lengths were feasible.

See ya,

Michael Williams
Arroyo Grande, CA USA