2018 Swan Islands earthquake
Guatemala
Belize
Cayman Islands
On 9 January 2018, at approximately 8:51 p.m. local time (02:51:10 January UTC), a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck in the Yucatán Basin of the Caribbean Sea, 44 kilometres (27 mi) east of Great Swan Island off the coast of Honduras.[1] The earthquake was felt across Central America, and rattled windows in Tegucigalpa.[2] The earthquake was also felt in the Cayman Islands.[3]
Tsunami advisories were issued for certain areas by the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center. They were later cancelled after further monitoring.[4] No tsunami was generated since the earthquake was an almost pure strike-slip on a near vertical plane, producing little upward movement of the sea floor that would cause a large displacement of water.[5]
Earthquake
The earthquake occurred at a depth of around 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) on a transform fault zone known as the Swan Islands Transform Fault in the Cayman Trough, where it forms part of the boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate.[1] The area just to the west also produced a large earthquake in 2009 that measured 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale.[6] According to a finite fault model created by the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake generated a maximum slip of 24 meters in a compact rupture zone. Three sub-events were discovered during the rupture process, the third of which, occurred at a velocity exceeding that of the shear wave. Propagating at 5 km/s, faster than the shear wave velocity of 4 km/s, the event is classified as a supershear earthquake.[7]
Damage
No major damage was reported. However some homes suffered cracks in walls.[8]
Tsunami
A tsunami was observed with maximum heights of 0.4 m (1.3 ft) in Roatan Island, Honduras.[9] A 0.2 m (0.66 ft) surge was observed in George Town, Cayman Islands.[9]
See also
References
- ^ a b "M 7.5 – 44km E of Great Swan Island, Honduras". United States Geological Survey. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
- ^ Palencia, Gustavo (9 January 2018). "Strong quake in Caribbean Sea shakes Honduras, Mexico and Belize, no tsunami". Reuters. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
- ^ "Earthquake sparks tsunami scare". 11 January 2018.
- ^ "Magnitude 7.6 quake hits in Caribbean north of Honduras". Associated Press. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
- ^ "2018 Swan Islands earthquake tsunami". Stack Exchange Network. Retrieved 10 January 2018.[unreliable source?]
- ^ Graham, Shannon E.; Demets, Charles; Deshon, Heather R.; Rogers, Robert; Maradiaga, Manuel Rodriguez; Strauch, Wilfried; Wiese, Klaus; Hernandez, Douglas (2012). "GPS and seismic constraints on the M = 7.3 2009 Swan Islands earthquake: Implications for stress changes along the Motagua fault and other nearby faults". Geophysical Journal International. 190 (3): 1625–1639. Bibcode:2012GeoJI.190.1625G. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05560.x.
- ^ Chuang Cheng; Dun Wang (2020). "Imaging the rupture process of the 10 January 2018 MW7.5 Swan island, Honduras earthquake". Earthquake Science. 33 (4): 194–200. Bibcode:2020EaSci..33..194C. doi:10.29382/eqs-2020-0194-03. S2CID 241109747.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "7.6 Honduras earthquake, a near miss". temblor.net. 10 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Tsunami Event: HONDURAS". ngdc.noaa.gov.
External links
- The International Seismological Centre has a bibliography and/or authoritative data for this event.
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- Great Swan Island, Honduras (7.5, January 10)
- Arequipa, Peru (7.1, January 14)
- West Java, Indonesia (5.9, January 23)
- Kodiak, Alaska (7.9, January 23)
- Hualien, Taiwan (6.4, February 6)
- Oaxaca, Mexico (7.2, February 16)
- Papua New Guinea (7.5, February 25) †
- Hawaii (6.9, May 4)
- Osaka, Japan (5.5, June 18)
- Lombok, Indonesia (6.4, July 28)
- Lombok, Indonesia (6.9, August 5) †
- Lakeba, Fiji (8.2, August 19)
- Lombok, Indonesia (6.9, August 19)
- Sucre, Venezuela (7.3, August 21)
- Sucre, Venezuela (5.8, August 22)
- Tomakomai, Japan (6.6, September 5) †
- Central Sulawesi, Indonesia (7.5, September 28) † ‡
- Port-de-Paix, Haiti (5.9, October 7)
- East Java, Indonesia (6.0, October 11)
- Ionian Sea (6.8, October 25)
- Sarpol-e Zahab, Iran (6.3, November 25)
- Anchorage, Alaska (7.1, November 30)
- † indicates earthquake resulting in at least 30 deaths
- ‡ indicates the deadliest earthquake of the year
- Dates for all earthquakes are in UTC
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