Earth Watch Report - Earthquakes
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M2.5 – 6km E of Espino, Puerto Rico 2013-05-14 19:59:27 UTC
Event Time
- 2013-05-14 19:59:27 UTC
- 2013-05-14 15:59:27 UTC-04:00 at epicenter
- 2013-05-14 14:59:27 UTC-05:00 system time
Location
18.270°N 67.062°W depth=24.0km (14.9mi)
Nearby Cities
- 6km (4mi) E of Espino, Puerto Rico
- 10km (6mi) SW of San Sebastian, Puerto Rico
- 11km (7mi) NE of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
- 15km (9mi) NNE of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico
- 103km (64mi) WSW of San Juan, Puerto Rico
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M2.5 – 12km S of La Parguera, Puerto Rico 2013-05-15 04:09:46 UTC
Event Time
- 2013-05-15 04:09:46 UTC
- 2013-05-15 00:09:46 UTC-04:00 at epicenter
- 2013-05-14 23:09:46 UTC-05:00 system time
Location
17.864°N 67.064°W depth=10.0km (6.2mi)
Nearby Cities
- 12km (7mi) S of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
- 24km (15mi) S of San German, Puerto Rico
- 26km (16mi) SSE of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico
- 29km (18mi) SW of Yauco, Puerto Rico
- 121km (75mi) WSW of San Juan, Puerto Rico
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M2.8 – 32km W of Rincon, Puerto Rico 2013-05-15 06:29:13 UTC
Event Time
- 2013-05-15 06:29:13 UTC
- 2013-05-15 01:29:13 UTC-05:00 at epicenter
- 2013-05-15 01:29:13 UTC-05:00 system time
Location
18.294°N 67.554°W depth=9.0km (5.6mi)
Nearby Cities
- 32km (20mi) W of Rincon, Puerto Rico
- 44km (27mi) WSW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
- 45km (28mi) WNW of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
- 48km (30mi) WNW of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico
- 154km (96mi) W of San Juan, Puerto Rico
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M2.5 – 8km SSE of Lamboglia, Puerto Rico
- Time
- 2013-05-11 03:44:58-05:00
- Location
- 17.913°N 65.953°W
- Depth
- 12.0km
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M2.8 – 48km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
- Time
- 2013-05-12 00:29:47-05:00
- Location
- 18.773°N 67.449°W
- Depth
- 8.0km
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M3.0 – 3km SW of Anasco, Puerto Rico
- Time
- 2013-05-12 06:36:37-05:00
- Location
- 18.262°N 67.170°W
- Depth
- 109.0km
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M2.7 – 15km WSW of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
- Time
- 2013-05-13 22:33:35-05:00
- Location
- 17.901°N 67.309°W
- Depth
- 8.0km
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Tectonic Summary
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.
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Puerto Rico - 4 Earthquakes Ranging From 3.3 to 2.7 Magnitude May 9th to 10th , 2013. Total of 14 in the last 10 days.
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Related articles
- Puerto Rico – 4 Earthquakes Ranging From 3.3 to 2.7 Magnitude May 9th to 10th , 2013. Total of 14 in the last 10 days. (familysurvivalprotocol.com)
- Earthquake Hits Puerto Rico (gracegdmn.wordpress.com)
