EARTHQUAKE

Submitted by ub on

An earthquake has occurred according to The US Geological Survey, M6.4 - 57km N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico. A strong 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the coast of Puerto Rico at a shallow depth of less than 30 km.

The quake hit some 56 km off the northern coast of the island. The capital, San Juan, where nearly one half million people live on the same side of the island.

No immediate injuries or damage has been reported. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake couldn't trigger a local tsunami.

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.