Swan Islands earthquake 2018
| Swan Islands earthquake | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 17 ° 28 '8 " N , 83 ° 31' 12" W | ||
| date | January 10, 2018 | ||
| Time | 02:51:31 UTC (03:51:31 CET) | ||
| Magnitude | 7.6 M W | ||
| depth | 10 km | ||
| epicenter | 27 mile (s) E of Cisne Grande (Great Swan Island) | ||
| country | international waters | ||
| Tsunami | Yes | ||
The Swan Islands Earthquake in 2018 was a major earthquake on January 10, 2018 at 02:51:31 UTC (03:51:31 GMT) about 44 kilometers east of Cisne Grande (Great Swan Iceland) in the Caribbean Sea off the Coast of Honduras .
Tectonic overview
The Swan Islands earthquake of January 10, 2018 with a magnitude M w 7.6 occurred as a result of a horizontal displacement in the flat earth's crust not far from the plate boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates . The early focal solutions indicate a crack at a strongly sloping point in either west-north-west (right-hand side) or west-south-west (left-hand side) direction. At the site of the earthquake, the North American Plate is moving west-southwest in relation to the Caribbean Plate at a rate of 19 mm per year. Not far from the January 10, 2018 quake, this movement is being exerted along the Swan Islands Transformation Fault, a left-hand shift. The location, depth and focus mechanism of the quake are consistent with earthquakes at this plate boundary or nearby and strongly connected faults.
In the one hundred years before the earthquake of January 10, 2018, nine other earthquakes with magnitudes of 6 or higher occurred within 400 km of the epicenter. Previous strong earthquakes on the plate boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates include the devastating Guatemala earthquake of February 4, 1976, which struck the Motagua Fault, killing more than 23,000. This segment of the plate boundary is in southern Guatemala, about 650 km west-southwest of the hypocenter of the January 10, 2018 quake. In May 2009, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred along the Swan Island Transformation Fault, about 300 km west; this earthquake, which occurred much closer to the mainland, claimed 7 lives, injured 40 more and damaged or destroyed 130 buildings.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c M 7.6 - 44km E of Great Swan Island, Honduras ( English ) United States Geological Survey. January 10, 2018. Retrieved January 10, 2018.