Complete Story on the earthquake that rocked Puerto Rico!

strong and shallow earthquake registered as M 6.4 struck off the coast of Puerto Rico on January 13, 2014 at 04:01 UTC. USGS measured depth at 28 km (17.4 miles), EMSC at 20 km. Numerous aftershocks followed (M3.1 - 3.7). Epicenter was located 57 km (35 miles) N of Hatillo and 60 km (37 miles) NNW of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Short power cut was registered immediately after the quake. Minor damage and cracked walls were reported. The earthquake occurred as a result of oblique-thrust faulting. Preliminary faulting mechanisms for the event indicate it ruptured either a structure dipping shallowly to the south and striking approximately east-west, or a near-vertical structure striking northwest-southeast. At the location of this earthquake, the North America plate moves west-southwest with respect to the Caribbean plate at a velocity of approximately 20 mm/yr, and subducts beneath the Caribbean plate at the Puerto Rico Trench. The location, depth and mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with the event occurring on this subduction zone interface. While the Puerto Rico Trench is known to be a significant seismic hazard, and is capable of hosting M8+ earthquakes, moderate-to-large events on the subduction zone are rare. Over the past century, three such events have occurred nearby to the January 13, 2014 earthquake – a M 6.6 event in 1915, just to the east of the 2014 event; a M 7.0 earthquake 70 km to the west in 1917; and a M 7.6 earthquake in 1943 just northwest of the 2014 earthquake. Two earthquakes occurred in the Mona Passage approximately 100 km to the southwest of the 2014 earthquake in 1916 (M 7.0) and 1918 (M 7.3), while the 1946 M 7.9-8.0 Hispaniola earthquake struck 230 km to the west, also on the North America slab interface. The July 1943 North Mona Passage earthquake did not cause significant damage in Puerto Rico, though it did spawn a small tsunami, and was the first in a series of large events in the broader northern Caribbean region between central Hispaniola and Puerto Rico over the following decade, including the larger 1946 earthquake. The 1946 event is known to have caused significant damage in both Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, including destruction from a subsequent tsunami (USGS). Seismotectonics of the Caribbean Region and Vicinity Extensive diversity and complexity of tectonic regimes characterizes the perimeter of the Caribbean plate, involving no fewer than four major plates (North America, South America, Nazca, and Cocos). Inclined zones of deep earthquakes (Wadati-Benioff zones), ocean trenches, and arcs of volcanoes clearly indicate subduction of oceanic lithosphere along the Central American and Atlantic Ocean margins of the Caribbean plate, while crustal seismicity in Guatemala, northern Venezuela, and the Cayman Ridge and Cayman Trench indicate transform fault and pull-apart basin tectonics. Along the northern margin of the Caribbean plate, the North America plate moves westwards with respect to the Caribbean plate at a velocity of approximately 20 mm/yr. Motion is accommodated along several major transform faults that extend eastward from Isla de Roatan to Haiti, including the Swan Island Fault and the Oriente Fault. These faults represent the southern and northern boundaries of the Cayman Trench. Further east, from the Dominican Republic to the Island of Barbuda, relative motion between the North America plate and the Caribbean plate becomes increasingly complex and is partially accommodated by nearly arc-parallel subduction of the North America plate beneath the Caribbean plate. This results in the formation of the deep Puerto Rico Trench and a zone of intermediate focus earthquakes (70-300 km depth) within the subducted slab. Although the Puerto Rico subduction zone is thought to be capable of generating a megathrust earthquake, there have been no such events in the past century. The last probable interplate (thrust fault) event here occurred on May 2, 1787 and was widely felt throughout the island with documented destruction across the entire northern coast, including Arecibo and San Juan. Since 1900, the two largest earthquakes to occur in this region were the August 4, 1946 M8.0 Samana earthquake in northeastern Hispaniola and the July 29, 1943 M7.6 Mona Passage earthquake, both of which were shallow thrust fault earthquakes. A significant portion of the motion between the North America plate and the Caribbean plate in this region is accommodated by a series of left-lateral strike-slip faults that bisect the island of Hispaniola, notably the Septentrional Fault in the north and the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault in the south. Activity adjacent to the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault system is best documented by the devastating January 12, 2010 M7.0 Haiti strike-slip earthquake, its associated aftershocks and a comparable earthquake in 1770. Moving east and south, the plate boundary curves around Puerto Rico and the northern Lesser Antilles where the plate motion vector of the Caribbean plate relative to the North and South America plates is less oblique, resulting in active island-arc tectonics. Here, the North and South America plates subduct towards the west beneath the Caribbean plate along the Lesser Antilles Trench at rates of approximately 20 mm/yr. As a result of this subduction, there exists both intermediate focus earthquakes within the subducted plates and a chain of active volcanoes along the island arc. Although the Lesser Antilles is considered one of the most seismically active regions in the Caribbean, few of these events have been greater than M7.0 over the past century. The island of Guadeloupe was the site of one of the largest megathrust earthquakes to occur in this region on February 8, 1843, with a suggested magnitude greater than 8.0. The largest recent intermediate-depth earthquake to occur along the Lesser Antilles arc was the November 29, 2007 M7.4 Martinique earthquake northwest of Fort-De-France. The southern Caribbean plate boundary with the South America plate strikes east-west across Trinidad and western Venezuela at a relative rate of approximately 20 mm/yr. This boundary is characterized by major transform faults, including the Central Range Fault and the Boconó-San Sebastian-El Pilar Faults, and shallow seismicity. Since 1900, the largest earthquakes to occur in this region were the October 29, 1900 M7.7 Caracas earthquake, and the July 29, 1967 M6.5 earthquake near this same region. Further to the west, a broad zone of compressive deformation trends southwestward across western Venezuela and central Columbia. The plate boundary is not well defined across northwestern South America, but deformation transitions from being dominated by Caribbean/South America convergence in the east to Nazca/South America convergence in the west. The transition zone between subduction on the eastern and western margins of the Caribbean plate is characterized by diffuse seismicity involving low- to intermediate-magnitude (M<6.0) earthquakes of shallow to intermediate depth. The plate boundary offshore of Colombia is also characterized by convergence, where the Nazca plate subducts beneath South America towards the east at a rate of approximately 65 mm/yr. The January 31, 1906 M8.5 earthquake occurred on the shallowly dipping megathrust interface of this plate boundary segment. Along the western coast of Central America, the Cocos plate subducts towards the east beneath the Caribbean plate at the Middle America Trench. Convergence rates vary between 72-81 mm/yr, decreasing towards the north. This subduction results in relatively high rates of seismicity and a chain of numerous active volcanoes; intermediate-focus earthquakes occur within the subducted Cocos plate to depths of nearly 300 km. Since 1900, there have been many moderately sized intermediate-depth earthquakes in this region, including the September 7, 1915 M7.4 El Salvador and the October 5, 1950 M7.8 Costa Rica events. The boundary between the Cocos and Nazca plates is characterized by a series of north-south trending transform faults and east-west trending spreading centers. The largest and most seismically active of these transform boundaries is the Panama Fracture Zone. The Panama Fracture Zone terminates in the south at the Galapagos rift zone and in the north at the Middle America trench, where it forms part of the Cocos-Nazca-Caribbean triple junction. Earthquakes along the Panama Fracture Zone are generally shallow, low- to intermediate in magnitude (M<7.2) and are characteristically right-lateral strike-slip faulting earthquakes. Since 1900, the largest earthquake to occur along the Panama Fracture Zone was the July 26, 1962 M7.2 earthquake. (USGS) More information on regional seismicity and tectonics References for the Panama Fracture Zone: Molnar, P., and Sykes, L. R., 1969, Tectonics of the Caribbean and Middle America Regions from Focal Mechanisms and Seismicity: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 80, p. 1639-1684. Featured image: USGS Tags: Puerto Rico Related articles Comments No comments yet. Why don't you post the first comment? 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The earthquake occurred as a result of oblique-thrust faulting. Preliminary faulting mechanisms for the event indicate it ruptured either a structure dipping shallowly to the south and striking approximately east-west, or a near-vertical structure striking northwest-southeast. At the location of this earthquake, the North Comet-hunting probe Rosetta about to wake up, zero in and land on a comet This month, after 10 years of traveling through our solar system, the first space mission designed to study and deliver a lander on a comet is up for a major milestone. Launched by European Space Agency (ESA) back in 2004, the unique comet-hunter spacecraft "Rosetta" is expected to wake up from its deep-space hibernation mode on January 20 and position itself for a historical rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. 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Major solar flare measuring X1.2 erupted from geoeffective region, bright CME generated January 07, 2014 Strong M7.2 solar flare erupted from big central region on the Sun January 07, 2014 Moderate solar activity continues - big sunspot delivers goodies January 05, 2014 Strong M9.9 solar flare erupted from AR 1936 January 01, 2014 Moderately strong M6.4 solar flare erupted from geoeffective region, glancing blow possible January 01, 2014 Moderate M3.1 solar flare erupted from AR 1936 located at the center of the disk December 29, 2013 View Space weather station » Seismic activity monitor GFZ USGS 4.5+ EMSC 6+ Seismic activity M 4.4, Turkey 2014-01-13 10:51:27 39.73 26.18 10 km A M 6.3, Puerto Rico Region 2014-01-13 04:01:04 18.96 -66.93 22 km M M 4.7, South of Fiji Islands 2014-01-13 00:47:36 -23.49 179.18 541 km M M 4.0, Romania 2014-01-12 18:26:02 45.50 26.42 135 km A M 4.7, Fiji Islands Region 2014-01-12 17:59:24 -15.94 -177.47 422 km A M 4.4, Xizang 2014-01-12 16:07:57 32.07 90.17 10 km M M 6.4, 57km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico 2014-01-13T11:08:43Z M 4.5, South of the Fiji Islands 2014-01-13T01:07:37Z M 4.5, 6km NW of The Geysers, California 2014-01-13T07:29:03Z M 4.5, 176km SSE of Sigave, Wallis and Futuna 2014-01-12T19:04:15Z M 5.0, 12km NE of Kalbay, Philippines 2014-01-12T21:25:24Z M 4.8, 241km NNE of Ndoi Island, Fiji 2014-01-12T12:23:38Z Mw 6.4 PUERTO RICO REGION Mon, 13 Jan 2014 08:08:00 +0000 Mw 6.6 VANUATU Wed, 01 Jan 2014 16:20:00 +0000 Mw 6.3 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION Wed, 18 Dec 2013 07:36:00 +0000 Mw 6.1 KURIL ISLANDS Mon, 09 Dec 2013 07:41:00 +0000 Mw 6.0 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA Mon, 02 Dec 2013 09:00:00 +0000 Mw 6.5 KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA Sun, 01 Dec 2013 08:00:00 +0000 Strong and shallow M 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Puerto Rico January 13, 2014 Shaking, cracks and dangerous rockfalls from strong M 5.4 quake near El Hierro, Canary Islands December 28, 2013 Sudden increase in seismic activity at El Hierro, Canary Islands December 22, 2013 Magnitude 6.2 shallow earthquake struck Northern Mariana Islands region December 18, 2013 Around the world headlines Sunday, January 12, 2014 To curb China's haze and air pollution, use water Saturday, January 11, 2014 Wanted: Billions of bees for European farms Improper use of biocides in food production may endanger public health Abaetetuba landslide: more information and photographs Wildfires rage near parched Santiago, Chile 5 cities with wild temperatures swings to start 2014 Friday, January 10, 2014 Mine landslide triggered quakes Thursday, January 09, 2014 Starlite, the nuclear blast-defying plastic that could change the world Wednesday, January 08, 2014 Mine spill causes 'extensive pollution' in Kruger Park river Record rain floods in Brazil See all headlines » Have an interesting story? 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