General Discussion

malaise

(269,106 posts) Thu Jul 16, 2015, 12:17 PM Jul 2015

WTF - 6.4 quake about 80 miles east of Barbados -update

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/magnitude-64-quake-shakes-barbados-reports-damage-32493523
<snip>

A strong earthquake struck Thursday in the ocean northeast of Barbados and was widely felt throughout the Caribbean, but officials said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

There were no reports of any injuries or damages, according to Kerry Hinds, the acting director of the Department of Emergency Services in Barbados. Nevertheless she urged residents to be cautious, given the size of the quake.
"With earthquakes, there is the possibility of aftershocks so please be mindful of that," Hinds said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.4 quake was centered 81 miles (132 kilometers) northeast of Bridgetown at a shallow depth of about 3 miles (5 kilometers). It hit at 11:16 a.m. local time. (15:16 GMT).

A Facebook page maintained by the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center included comments that showed the earthquake was felt across much of the Caribbean, from nearby St. Vincent and the Grenadines and to Venezuela, Guyana and Trinidad in the south.

5 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

WTF - 6.4 quake about 80 miles east of Barbados -update (Original Post) malaise Jul 2015 OP

This would be highly unusual I believe. randys1 Jul 2015 #1

No, earthquakes and volcanic activity are common at the edge of the Caribbean Plate jberryhill Jul 2015 #4

Fairly normal jberryhill Jul 2015 #2

True on paper but it is rare for such a strong quake off Bim n/t malaise Jul 2015 #3

. jberryhill Jul 2015 #5

randys1

(16,286 posts)

1. This would be highly unusual I believe.

Reply to malaise (Original post)

Thu Jul 16, 2015, 12:17 PM

Jul 2015

jberryhill

(62,444 posts)

4. No, earthquakes and volcanic activity are common at the edge of the Caribbean Plate

Reply to randys1 (Reply #1)

Thu Jul 16, 2015, 12:24 PM

Jul 2015

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.

Montserrat 1997: