2018 Swan Islands Earthquake
Tsunami advisories were issued for certain areas by the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center. They were later cancelled after further monitoring. 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.
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. The area just to the west also produced a large earthquake in 2009 that measured 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale. 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.
Damage
No major damage was reported. However some homes suffered cracks in walls.
Tsunami
A tsunami was observed with maximum heights of 0.4 m (1.3 ft) in Roatan Island, Honduras. A 0.2 m (0.66 ft) surge was observed in George Town, Cayman Islands.
See also
References
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "7.6 Honduras earthquake, a near miss". temblor.net. 10 January 2018.
- ^ "Tsunami Event: HONDURAS". ngdc.noaa.gov.
External links
- The International Seismological Centre has a bibliography and/or authoritative data for this event.