Solomon Islands : 5.7 Magnitude EQ - 92km SSE of Lata / 4.8 Magnitude EQ - 72km W of Lata

Earth Watch Report  -  Earthquakes

2 earthquakes in map area

1. M 5.7 - 92km SSE of Lata, Solomon Islands

    2014-02-01 13:59:59 UTC-06:00 32.0 km

2. M 4.8 - 72km W of Lata, Solomon Islands

    2014-02-01 00:31:18 UTC-06:00 48.0 km

USGS

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M 5.7 - 92km SSE of Lata, Solomon Islands

 2014-02-01 19:59:59 UTC

Event Time

1. 2014-02-01 19:59:59 UTC
2. 2014-02-02 06:59:59 UTC+11:00 at epicenter
3. 2014-02-01 13:59:59 UTC-06:00 system time

Location

11.433°S 166.278°E depth=32.0km (19.9mi)

Nearby Cities

1. 92km (57mi) SSE of Lata, Solomon Islands
2. 463km (288mi) NNW of Luganville, Vanuatu
3. 727km (452mi) ESE of Honiara, Solomon Islands
4. 731km (454mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
5. 1054km (655mi) N of We, New Caledonia

Related Links

• View location in Google Maps

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M 4.8 - 72km W of Lata, Solomon Islands

2014-02-01 06:31:18 UTC

Event Time

1. 2014-02-01 06:31:18 UTC
2. 2014-02-01 17:31:18 UTC+11:00 at epicenter
3. 2014-02-01 00:31:18 UTC-06:00 system time

Location

10.652°S 165.176°E depth=48.0km (29.8mi)

Nearby Cities

1. 72km (45mi) W of Lata, Solomon Islands
2. 581km (361mi) NNW of Luganville, Vanuatu
3. 588km (365mi) ESE of Honiara, Solomon Islands
4. 853km (530mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
5. 1157km (719mi) NNW of We, New Caledonia

Related Links

• View location in Google Maps

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Tectonic Summary

Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate

The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.
Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar events are likely to occur again.
North of New Zealand, the Australia-Pacific boundary stretches east of Tonga and Fiji to 250 km south of Samoa. For 2,200 km the trench is approximately linear, and includes two segments where old (>120 Myr) Pacific oceanic lithosphere rapidly subducts westward (Kermadec and Tonga). At the northern end of the Tonga trench, the boundary curves sharply westward and changes along a 700 km-long segment from trench-normal subduction, to oblique subduction, to a left lateral transform-like structure.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 60 mm/yr at the southern Kermadec trench to 90 mm/yr at the northern Tonga trench; however, significant back arc extension (or equivalently, slab rollback) causes the consumption rate of subducting Pacific lithosphere to be much faster. The spreading rate in the Havre trough, west of the Kermadec trench, increases northward from 8 to 20 mm/yr. The southern tip of this spreading center is propagating into the North Island of New Zealand, rifting it apart. In the southern Lau Basin, west of the Tonga trench, the spreading rate increases northward from 60 to 90 mm/yr, and in the northern Lau Basin, multiple spreading centers result in an extension rate as high as 160 mm/yr. The overall subduction velocity of the Pacific plate is the vector sum of Australia-Pacific velocity and back arc spreading velocity: thus it increases northward along the Kermadec trench from 70 to 100 mm/yr, and along the Tonga trench from 150 to 240 mm/yr.
The Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone generates many large earthquakes on the interface between the descending Pacific and overriding Australia plates, within the two plates themselves and, less frequently, near the outer rise of the Pacific plate east of the trench. Since 1900, 40 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded, mostly north of 30°S. However, it is unclear whether any of the few historic M8+ events that have occurred close to the plate boundary were underthrusting events on the plate interface, or were intraplate earthquakes. On September 29, 2009, one of the largest normal fault (outer rise) earthquakes ever recorded (M8.1) occurred south of Samoa, 40 km east of the Tonga trench, generating a tsunami that killed at least 180 people.
Across the North Fiji Basin and to the west of the Vanuatu Islands, the Australia plate again subducts eastwards beneath the Pacific, at the North New Hebrides trench. At the southern end of this trench, east of the Loyalty Islands, the plate boundary curves east into an oceanic transform-like structure analogous to the one north of Tonga.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 80 to 90 mm/yr along the North New Hebrides trench, but the Australia plate consumption rate is increased by extension in the back arc and in the North Fiji Basin. Back arc spreading occurs at a rate of 50 mm/yr along most of the subduction zone, except near ~15°S, where the D'Entrecasteaux ridge intersects the trench and causes localized compression of 50 mm/yr in the back arc. Therefore, the Australia plate subduction velocity ranges from 120 mm/yr at the southern end of the North New Hebrides trench, to 40 mm/yr at the D'Entrecasteaux ridge-trench intersection, to 170 mm/yr at the northern end of the trench.
Large earthquakes are common along the North New Hebrides trench and have mechanisms associated with subduction tectonics, though occasional strike slip earthquakes occur near the subduction of the D'Entrecasteaux ridge. Within the subduction zone 34 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since 1900. On October 7, 2009, a large interplate thrust fault earthquake (M7.6) in the northern North New Hebrides subduction zone was followed 15 minutes later by an even larger interplate event (M7.8) 60 km to the north. It is likely that the first event triggered the second of the so-called earthquake "doublet".
More information on regional seismicity and tectonics

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Contributed by USGS National Earthquake Information Center

Instrumental Intensity

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Related articles

• Moderate earthquake - Lata, Solomon Islands on February 1, 2014
• Strong Earthquake Vanuatu Islands 01-Jan-14 (c000lvb5)

Indonesia : 6.1 Magnitude Earthquake - Kepulauan Barat Daya : Seismic Activity of 8 additional registered ranging in Magnitude from 4.4 to 5.2 February 3rd, 2014

Earth Watch Report  -  Earthquakes

9 earthquakes in map area

1. M 4.8 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia

    2014-02-03 20:12:44 UTC-06:00 10.0 km

2. M 4.9 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia

   2014-02-03 19:05:32 UTC-06:00 10.0 km

3. M 4.6 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia

   2014-02-03 18:32:52 UTC-06:00 28.6 km

4. M 5.1 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia

   2014-02-03 18:27:06 UTC-06:00 7.3 km

5. M 4.4 - 236km SSE of Leksula, Indonesia

   2014-02-03 17:54:13 UTC-06:00 14.4 km

6. M 4.4 - 236km SSE of Leksula, Indonesia

   2014-02-03 16:54:28 UTC-06:00 389.4 km

7. M 4.8 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia

   2014-02-03 16:50:05 UTC-06:00 60.5 km

8. M 6.1 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia

   2014-02-03 16:36:41 UTC-06:00 18.1 km

9. M 5.2 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia

   2014-02-03 14:37:14 UTC-06:00 2.3 km

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M 6.1 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia

 2014-02-03 22:36:41 UTC

Event Time

1. 2014-02-03 22:36:41 UTC
2. 2014-02-04 07:36:41 UTC+09:00 at epicenter
3. 2014-02-03 16:36:41 UTC-06:00 system time

Location

7.164°S 128.100°E depth=18.1km (11.3mi)

Nearby Cities

1. 318km (198mi) ENE of Dili, East Timor
2. 383km (238mi) S of Ambon, Indonesia
3. 413km (257mi) ENE of Atambua, Indonesia
4. 433km (269mi) SSW of Amahai, Indonesia
5. 318km (198mi) ENE of Dili, East Timor

Related Links

• View location in Google Maps

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Contributed by USGS National Earthquake Information Center

Instrumental Intensity

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Tectonic Summary

Seismotectonics of the New Guinea Region and Vicinity

The Australia-Pacific plate boundary is over 4000 km long on the northern margin, from the Sunda (Java) trench in the west to the Solomon Islands in the east. The eastern section is over 2300 km long, extending west from northeast of the Australian continent and the Coral Sea until it intersects the east coast of Papua New Guinea. The boundary is dominated by the general northward subduction of the Australia plate.
Along the South Solomon trench, the Australia plate converges with the Pacific plate at a rate of approximately 95 mm/yr towards the east-northeast. Seismicity along the trench is dominantly related to subduction tectonics and large earthquakes are common: there have been 13 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded since 1900. On April 1, 2007, a M8.1 interplate megathrust earthquake occurred at the western end of the trench, generating a tsunami and killing at least 40 people. This was the third M8.1 megathrust event associated with this subduction zone in the past century; the other two occurred in 1939 and 1977.
Further east at the New Britain trench, the relative motions of several microplates surrounding the Australia-Pacific boundary, including north-south oriented seafloor spreading in the Woodlark Basin south of the Solomon Islands, maintain the general northward subduction of Australia-affiliated lithosphere beneath Pacific-affiliated lithosphere. Most of the large and great earthquakes east of New Guinea are related to this subduction; such earthquakes are particularly concentrated at the cusp of the trench south of New Ireland. 33 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since 1900, including three shallow thrust fault M8.1 events in 1906, 1919, and 2007.
The western end of the Australia-Pacific plate boundary is perhaps the most complex portion of this boundary, extending 2000 km from Indonesia and the Banda Sea to eastern New Guinea. The boundary is dominantly convergent along an arc-continent collision segment spanning the width of New Guinea, but the regions near the edges of the impinging Australia continental margin also include relatively short segments of extensional, strike-slip and convergent deformation. The dominant convergence is accommodated by shortening and uplift across a 250-350 km-wide band of northern New Guinea, as well as by slow southward-verging subduction of the Pacific plate north of New Guinea at the New Guinea trench. Here, the Australia-Pacific plate relative velocity is approximately 110 mm/yr towards the northeast, leading to the 2-8 mm/yr uplift of the New Guinea Highlands.
Whereas the northern band of deformation is relatively diffuse east of the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border, in western New Guinea there are at least two small (<100,000 km²) blocks of relatively undeformed lithosphere. The westernmost of these is the Birds Head Peninsula microplate in Indonesia's West Papua province, bounded on the south by the Seram trench. The Seram trench was originally interpreted as an extreme bend in the Sunda subduction zone, but is now thought to represent a southward-verging subduction zone between Birds Head and the Banda Sea.
There have been 22 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded in the New Guinea region since 1900. The dominant earthquake mechanisms are thrust and strike slip, associated with the arc-continent collision and the relative motions between numerous local microplates. The largest earthquake in the region was a M8.2 shallow thrust fault event in the northern Papua province of Indonesia that killed 166 people in 1996.
The western portion of the northern Australia plate boundary extends approximately 4800 km from New Guinea to Sumatra and primarily separates Australia from the Eurasia plate, including the Sunda block. This portion is dominantly convergent and includes subduction at the Sunda (Java) trench, and a young arc-continent collision.
In the east, this boundary extends from the Kai Islands to Sumba along the Timor trough, offset from the Sunda trench by 250 km south of Sumba. Contrary to earlier tectonic models in which this trough was interpreted as a subduction feature continuous with the Sunda subduction zone, it is now thought to represent a subsiding deformational feature related to the collision of the Australia plate continental margin and the volcanic arc of the Eurasia plate, initiating in the last 5-8 Myr. Before collision began, the Sunda subduction zone extended eastward to at least the Kai Islands, evidenced by the presence of a northward-dipping zone of seismicity beneath Timor Leste. A more detailed examination of the seismic zone along it's eastern segment reveals a gap in intermediate depth seismicity under Timor and seismic mechanisms that indicate an eastward propagating tear in the descending slab as the negatively buoyant oceanic lithosphere detaches from positively buoyant continental lithosphere. On the surface, GPS measurements indicate that the region around Timor is currently no longer connected to the Eurasia plate, but instead is moving at nearly the same velocity as the Australia plate, another consequence of collision.
Large earthquakes in eastern Indonesia occur frequently but interplate megathrust events related to subduction are rare; this is likely due to the disconnection of the descending oceanic slab from the continental margin. There have been 9 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded from the Kai Islands to Sumba since 1900. The largest was the great Banda Sea earthquake of 1938 (M8.5) an intermediate depth thrust faulting event that did not cause significant loss of life.
More information on regional seismicity and tectonics

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Vanuatu : 6.6 Magnitude Earthquake - 37km W of Sola

Earth Watch Report  -  Earthquakes

Contributed by USGS National Earthquake Information Center

Instrumental Intensity

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M 6.6 - 37km W of Sola, Vanuatu

2014-01-01 16:03:30 UTC

Event Time

1. 2014-01-01 16:03:30 UTC
2. 2014-01-02 03:03:30 UTC+11:00 at epicenter
3. 2014-01-01 10:03:30 UTC-06:00 system time

Location

13.873°S 167.202°E depth=196.2km (121.9mi)

Nearby Cities

1. 37km (23mi) W of Sola, Vanuatu
2. 183km (114mi) N of Luganville, Vanuatu
3. 443km (275mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
4. 779km (484mi) N of We, New Caledonia
5. 918km (570mi) N of Paita, New Caledonia

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Tectonic Summary

Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate

The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.
Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar events are likely to occur again.
North of New Zealand, the Australia-Pacific boundary stretches east of Tonga and Fiji to 250 km south of Samoa. For 2,200 km the trench is approximately linear, and includes two segments where old (>120 Myr) Pacific oceanic lithosphere rapidly subducts westward (Kermadec and Tonga). At the northern end of the Tonga trench, the boundary curves sharply westward and changes along a 700 km-long segment from trench-normal subduction, to oblique subduction, to a left lateral transform-like structure.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 60 mm/yr at the southern Kermadec trench to 90 mm/yr at the northern Tonga trench; however, significant back arc extension (or equivalently, slab rollback) causes the consumption rate of subducting Pacific lithosphere to be much faster. The spreading rate in the Havre trough, west of the Kermadec trench, increases northward from 8 to 20 mm/yr. The southern tip of this spreading center is propagating into the North Island of New Zealand, rifting it apart. In the southern Lau Basin, west of the Tonga trench, the spreading rate increases northward from 60 to 90 mm/yr, and in the northern Lau Basin, multiple spreading centers result in an extension rate as high as 160 mm/yr. The overall subduction velocity of the Pacific plate is the vector sum of Australia-Pacific velocity and back arc spreading velocity: thus it increases northward along the Kermadec trench from 70 to 100 mm/yr, and along the Tonga trench from 150 to 240 mm/yr.
The Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone generates many large earthquakes on the interface between the descending Pacific and overriding Australia plates, within the two plates themselves and, less frequently, near the outer rise of the Pacific plate east of the trench. Since 1900, 40 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded, mostly north of 30°S. However, it is unclear whether any of the few historic M8+ events that have occurred close to the plate boundary were underthrusting events on the plate interface, or were intraplate earthquakes. On September 29, 2009, one of the largest normal fault (outer rise) earthquakes ever recorded (M8.1) occurred south of Samoa, 40 km east of the Tonga trench, generating a tsunami that killed at least 180 people.
Across the North Fiji Basin and to the west of the Vanuatu Islands, the Australia plate again subducts eastwards beneath the Pacific, at the North New Hebrides trench. At the southern end of this trench, east of the Loyalty Islands, the plate boundary curves east into an oceanic transform-like structure analogous to the one north of Tonga.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 80 to 90 mm/yr along the North New Hebrides trench, but the Australia plate consumption rate is increased by extension in the back arc and in the North Fiji Basin. Back arc spreading occurs at a rate of 50 mm/yr along most of the subduction zone, except near ~15°S, where the D'Entrecasteaux ridge intersects the trench and causes localized compression of 50 mm/yr in the back arc. Therefore, the Australia plate subduction velocity ranges from 120 mm/yr at the southern end of the North New Hebrides trench, to 40 mm/yr at the D'Entrecasteaux ridge-trench intersection, to 170 mm/yr at the northern end of the trench.
Large earthquakes are common along the North New Hebrides trench and have mechanisms associated with subduction tectonics, though occasional strike slip earthquakes occur near the subduction of the D'Entrecasteaux ridge. Within the subduction zone 34 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since 1900. On October 7, 2009, a large interplate thrust fault earthquake (M7.6) in the northern North New Hebrides subduction zone was followed 15 minutes later by an even larger interplate event (M7.8) 60 km to the north. It is likely that the first event triggered the second of the so-called earthquake "doublet".
More information on regional seismicity and tectonics

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6.6 magnitude Pacific quake, no tsunami threat: US geologists

by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Jan 01, 2014

A powerful 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck Wednesday off the coast of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, but US geologists said it was too deep to cause a tsunami.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 1603 GMT about 37 kilometers (23 miles) west of Sola, Vanuatu.
The National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska said that the New Year's Day temblor, with a depth of 195 kilometers, was "located too deep within the earth" to generate a sizeable tidal wave.
A 5.1-magnitude quake hits eastern Japan: USGS
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 31, 2013 - A shallow 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Japan Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no local reports of any damage.
The quake hit at 10:03 am (0103 GMT) in Ibaraki prefecture, 146 kilometres (91 miles) northeast of Tokyo, the agency said.
The tremor was 9.9 kilometres deep, the agency said.
Located roughly 80 kilometres southwest of the Fukushima nuclear plant, the quake was strong enough to gently rock high-rise buildings in the capital.
Japan Meteorological Agency earlier estimated the quake's magnitude at 5.4.
It was followed eight minutes later by a very shallow 3.6-magnitude quake in the same area, according to the Japanese agency.
Tokyo Electric Power said the quakes did not affect the Fukushima plant, where crews are working through the holiday season to cool reactors crippled by the 2011 tsunami.

Related articles

• Magnitude 6.6 quake hits Vanuatu
• Earthquake Today in Vanuatu: 6.6 Quake Hits Island Nation
• 6.6-magnitude earthquake reported in Vanuatu
• 6.6-magnitude quake hits Vanuatu
• 6.6-magnitude earthquake reported in Vanuatu
• 6.6-magnitude earthquake reported in Vanuatu
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Russia - 6.6 Magnitude Earthquake - 172km S of Ust'-Kamchatsk Staryy

Earth Watch Report

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M 6.6 - 172km S of Ust'-Kamchatsk Staryy, Russia

 2013-11-12 07:03:51 UTC

Event Time

1. 2013-11-12 07:03:51 UTC
2. 2013-11-12 19:03:51 UTC+12:00 at epicenter
3. 2013-11-12 01:03:51 UTC-06:00 system time

Location

54.681°N 162.286°E depth=47.2km (29.3mi)

Nearby Cities

1. 172km (107mi) S of Ust'-Kamchatsk Staryy, Russia
2. 300km (186mi) NE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
3. 305km (190mi) NE of Yelizovo, Russia
4. 321km (199mi) NE of Vilyuchinsk, Russia
5. 2733km (1698mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan

Related Links

• Additional earthquake information for Russia
• View location in Google Maps

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Tectonic Summary

Seismotectonics of the Kuril-Kamchatka Arc

The Kuril-Kamchatka arc extends approximately 2,100 km from Hokkaido, Japan, along the Kuril Islands and the Pacific coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula to its intersection with the Aleutian arc near the Commander Islands, Russia. It marks the region where the Pacific plate subducts into the mantle beneath the Okhotsk microplate, part of the larger North America plate. This subduction is responsible for the generation of the Kuril Islands chain, active volcanoes located along the entire arc, and the deep offshore Kuril-Kamchatka trench. Relative to a fixed North America plate, the Pacific plate is moving towards the northwest at a rate that increases from 75 mm/year near the northern end of the arc to 83 mm/year in the south.
Plate motion is predominantly convergent along the Kuril-Kamchatka arc with obliquity increasing towards the southern section of the arc. The subducting Pacific plate is relatively old, particularly adjacent to Kamchatka where its age is greater than 100 Ma. Consequently, the Wadati-Benioff zone is well defined to depths of approximately 650 km. The central section of the arc is comprised of an oceanic island arc system, which differs from the continental arc systems of the northern and southern sections. Oblique convergence in the southern Kuril arc results in the partitioning of stresses into both trench-normal thrust earthquakes and trench-parallel strike-slip earthquakes, and the westward translation of the Kuril forearc. This westward migration of the Kuril forearc currently results in collision between the Kuril arc in the north and the Japan arc in the south, resulting in the deformation and uplift of the Hidaka Mountains in central Hokkaido.
The Kuril-Kamchatka arc is considered one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Deformation of the overriding North America plate generates shallow crustal earthquakes, whereas slip at the subduction zone interface between the Pacific and North America plates generates interplate earthquakes that extend from near the base of the trench to depths of 40 to 60 km. At greater depths, Kuril-Kamchatka arc earthquakes occur within the subducting Pacific plate and can reach depths of approximately 650 km.
This region has frequently experienced large (M>7) earthquakes over the past century. Since 1900, seven great earthquakes (M8.3 or larger) have also occurred along the arc, with mechanisms that include interplate thrust faulting, and intraplate faulting. Damaging tsunamis followed several of the large interplate megathrust earthquakes. These events include the February 3, 1923 M8.4 Kamchatka, the November 6,1958 M8.4 Etorofu, and the September 25, 2003 M8.3 Hokkaido earthquakes. A large M8.5 megathrust earthquake occurred on October 13, 1963 off the coast of Urup, an island along the southern Kuril arc, which generated a large tsunami in the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk, and caused run-up wave heights of up to 4-5 m along the Kuril arc. The largest megathrust earthquake to occur along the entire Kurile-Kamchatka arc in the 20th century was the November 4, 1952 M9.0 event. This earthquake was followed by a devastating tsunami with run-up wave heights as high as 12 m along the coast of Paramushir, a small island immediately south of Kamchatka, causing significant damage to the city of Severo-Kurilsk.
On October 4,1994, a large (M8.3) intraplate event occurred within the subducted oceanic lithosphere off the coast of Shikotan Island causing intense ground shaking, landslides, and a tsunami with run-up heights of up to 10 m on the island.
The most recent megathrust earthquake in the region was the November 15, 2006 M8.3 Kuril Island event, located in the central section of the arc. Prior to this rupture, this part of the subduction zone had been recognized as a seismic gap spanning from the northeastern end of the 1963 rupture zone to the southwestern end of the 1952 rupture. Two months after the 2006 event, a great (M8.1) normal faulting earthquake occurred on January 13, 2007 in the adjacent outer rise region of the Pacific plate. It has been suggested that the 2007 event may have been caused by the stresses generated from the 2006 earthquake.
More information on regional seismicity and tectonics

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Contributed by USGS National Earthquake Information Center

Instrumental Intensity

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Related articles

• Moderate earthquake - Kuril Islands on September 29, 2013
• Moderate earthquake - Kuril Islands on October 23, 2013
• Very Strong earthquake - Near East Coast Of Kamchatka on November 12, 2013
• Strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Russia's Kamchatka region
• Seaquake of magnitude 6.1 hits Okhotsk Sea off Kamchatka's coast
• USGS: Magnitude 6.6 - 172km S of Ust'-Kamchatsk Staryy, Russia
• 6.6M: Earthquake Strikes Ust'-Kamchatsk Staryy, Russia
• Strong Earthquake Near East Coast Of Kamchatka (218) 12-Nov-13 (b000kw1x)
• Strong Earthquake Sea Of Okhotsk (663) {F} 01-Oct-13 ()
• USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - Sea of Okhotsk

Taiwan - 3 Earthquakes Ranging in Mangitude from 6.3 to 4.5 in the last 5 days

 

Earth Watch Report -  Earthquakes

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M 6.3 - 45km SSW of Hualian, Taiwan

2013-10-31 12:02:09 UTC

 

Event Time

1. 2013-10-31 12:02:09 UTC
2. 2013-10-31 20:02:09 UTC+08:00 at epicenter
3. 2013-10-31 07:02:09 UTC-05:00 system time

Location

23.591°N 121.443°E depth=12.0km (7.5mi)

Nearby Cities

1. 45km (28mi) SSW of Hualian, Taiwan
2. 63km (39mi) SE of Buli, Taiwan
3. 72km (45mi) ESE of Lugu, Taiwan
4. 87km (54mi) ESE of Nantou, Taiwan
5. 761km (473mi) ENE of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Related Links

• Additional earthquake information for Taiwan
• Earthquake Summary Poster
• View location in Google Maps

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Contributed by USGS National Earthquake Information Center

Instrumental Intensity

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Tectonic Summary

The October 31, 2013 M 6.3 earthquake southwest of Hualian, Taiwan occurred as the result of shallow oblique-thrust faulting near the central-east coast of the island of Taiwan and the boundary between the Philippine Sea and Eurasia plates. East of the October 31 earthquake, plate boundary tectonics are dominated by the westward subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath Eurasia along the Ryukyu Trench, which runs from southwest Japan to Taiwan. Some authors infer that this subduction continues beneath the east coast of Taiwan. South of the island towards the Philippines, the plate boundary reflects arc-continent collision more than traditional subduction. The October 31 earthquake occurred at the transition between these tectonic regimes, and is a consequence of the convergence between these major plates. At the location of this earthquake, the Philippine Sea plate moves to the northwest with respect to Eurasia at a velocity of approximately 77 mm/yr.
This region of Taiwan is familiar with moderate to large earthquake activity, and has hosted over 60 events of M6 or greater within 250 km of the October 31 event in the past 40 years. Seven of these were M7 or greater, including a M7.4 earthquake 40 km to the north of the October 31 event in November 1986, which caused 13 fatalities.

Seismotectonics of the Philippine Sea and Vicinity

The Philippine Sea plate is bordered by the larger Pacific and Eurasia plates and the smaller Sunda plate. The Philippine Sea plate is unusual in that its borders are nearly all zones of plate convergence. The Pacific plate is subducted into the mantle, south of Japan, beneath the Izu-Bonin and Mariana island arcs, which extend more than 3,000 km along the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea plate. This subduction zone is characterized by rapid plate convergence and high-level seismicity extending to depths of over 600 km. In spite of this extensive zone of plate convergence, the plate interface has been associated with few great (M>8.0) ‘megathrust’ earthquakes. This low seismic energy release is thought to result from weak coupling along the plate interface (Scholz and Campos, 1995). These convergent plate margins are also associated with unusual zones of back-arc extension (along with resulting seismic activity) that decouple the volcanic island arcs from the remainder of the Philippine Sea Plate (Karig et al., 1978; Klaus et al., 1992).
South of the Mariana arc, the Pacific plate is subducted beneath the Yap Islands along the Yap trench. The long zone of Pacific plate subduction at the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea Plate is responsible for the generation of the deep Izu-Bonin, Mariana, and Yap trenches as well as parallel chains of islands and volcanoes, typical of circum-pacific island arcs. Similarly, the northwestern margin of the Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the Eurasia plate along a convergent zone, extending from southern Honshu to the northeastern coast of Taiwan, manifested by the Ryukyu Islands and the Nansei-Shoto (Ryukyu) trench. The Ryukyu Subduction Zone is associated with a similar zone of back-arc extension, the Okinawa Trough. At Taiwan, the plate boundary is characterized by a zone of arc-continent collision, whereby the northern end of the Luzon island arc is colliding with the buoyant crust of the Eurasia continental margin offshore China.
Along its western margin, the Philippine Sea plate is associated with a zone of oblique convergence with the Sunda Plate. This highly active convergent plate boundary extends along both sides the Philippine Islands, from Luzon in the north to the Celebes Islands in the south. The tectonic setting of the Philippines is unusual in several respects: it is characterized by opposite-facing subduction systems on its east and west sides; the archipelago is cut by a major transform fault, the Philippine Fault; and the arc complex itself is marked by active volcanism, faulting, and high seismic activity. Subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate occurs at the eastern margin of the archipelago along the Philippine Trench and its northern extension, the East Luzon Trough. The East Luzon Trough is thought to be an unusual example of a subduction zone in the process of formation, as the Philippine Trench system gradually extends northward (Hamburger et al., 1983). On the west side of Luzon, the Sunda Plate subducts eastward along a series of trenches, including the Manila Trench in the north, the smaller less well-developed Negros Trench in the central Philippines, and the Sulu and Cotabato trenches in the south (Cardwell et al., 1980). At its northern and southern terminations, subduction at the Manila Trench is interrupted by arc-continent collision, between the northern Philippine arc and the Eurasian continental margin at Taiwan and between the Sulu-Borneo Block and Luzon at the island of Mindoro. The Philippine fault, which extends over 1,200 km within the Philippine arc, is seismically active. The fault has been associated with major historical earthquakes, including the destructive M7.6 Luzon earthquake of 1990 (Yoshida and Abe, 1992). A number of other active intra-arc fault systems are associated with high seismic activity, including the Cotabato Fault and the Verde Passage-Sibuyan Sea Fault (Galgana et al., 2007).
Relative plate motion vectors near the Philippines (about 80 mm/yr) is oblique to the plate boundary along the two plate margins of central Luzon, where it is partitioned into orthogonal plate convergence along the trenches and nearly pure translational motion along the Philippine Fault (Barrier et al., 1991). Profiles B and C reveal evidence of opposing inclined seismic zones at intermediate depths (roughly 70-300 km) and complex tectonics at the surface along the Philippine Fault.
Several relevant tectonic elements, plate boundaries and active volcanoes, provide a context for the seismicity presented on the main map. The plate boundaries are most accurate along the axis of the trenches and more diffuse or speculative in the South China Sea and Lesser Sunda Islands. The active volcanic arcs (Siebert and Simkin, 2002) follow the Izu, Volcano, Mariana, and Ryukyu island chains and the main Philippine islands parallel to the Manila, Negros, Cotabato, and Philippine trenches.
Seismic activity along the boundaries of the Philippine Sea Plate (Allen et al., 2009) has produced 7 great (M>8.0) earthquakes and 250 large (M>7) events. Among the most destructive events were the 1923 Kanto, the 1948 Fukui and the 1995 Kobe (Japan) earthquakes (99,000, 5,100, and 6,400 casualties, respectively), the 1935 and the 1999 Chi-Chi (Taiwan) earthquakes (3,300 and 2,500 casualties, respectively), and the 1976 M7.6 Moro Gulf and 1990 M7.6 Luzon (Philippines) earthquakes (7,100 and 2,400 casualties, respectively). There have also been a number of tsunami-generating events in the region, including the Moro Gulf earthquake, whose tsunami resulted in more than 5000 deaths.

More information on regional seismicity and tectonics

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6.6 quake hits Taiwan; no tsunami warning to US coast

by Associated Press

Posted on October 31, 2013 at 6:06 AM

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- A strong earthquake hit eastern Taiwan on Thursday, shaking buildings over a wide area including the capital. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake measured magnitude 6.6 and struck in the evening. It was centered in a remote mountainous area 45 kilometers (28 miles) south-southwest of the coastal city of Hualian at a depth of just 9.3 kilometers (5.8 miles), it said.
In Taipei, the capital, buildings swayed for more than 10 seconds and startled residents ducked for cover.


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