{"id":2057,"date":"2014-12-06T23:08:23","date_gmt":"2014-12-07T07:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earthjay.com\/?p=2057"},"modified":"2014-12-06T23:08:23","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T07:08:23","slug":"earthquake-along-the-new-britain-trench-soloman-isles-and-papua-new-gunea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthjay.com\/?p=2057","title":{"rendered":"Earthquake along the New Britain trench (Solomon Isles and Papua New Guinea)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We just had an earthquake swarm along the subduction zone trench offshore of the Solomon Islands. Here<\/a> is the USGS earthquake page for this Mw 6.8 subduction zone earthquake.
\nHere is a map of the region with the recent swarm.
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\nThis map shows the modeled shaking intensity for this earthquake. Bouganville Island likely experienced MMI IvV. From the USGS page<\/a>, “Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day. At night, some awakened. Dishes, windows, doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking building. Standing motor cars rocked noticeably.”
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\nThis map shows the slab contours (an estimate of the subduction zone plate interface). These contours are estimated by Hayes et al., (2012)<\/a>.
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\nThis region has been active in the past couple of years. There have been compressional, extensional<\/a>, and transform earthquakes since 7\/7\/2013. This map shows the earthquake epicenters (blue dots), their moment tensors, magnitudes and date of rupture. Here<\/a> is my page regarding the earthquakes from April 2014. This<\/a> is the USGS tectonic poster for the region that I used as a background. I placed black arrows to show the relative plate motion across the tectonic plate boundaries adjacent to these earthquakes.
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\nThis map shows the general plate boundaries on the region (Tregoning et al., 2000).
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\nThis map shows the relative age of these oceanic plates of the region (Baldwin et al., 2012).
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\nThis map shows plate velocities and euler poles for different blocks. Note the counterclockwise motion of the plate that underlies the Solomon Sea (Baldwin et al., 2012).
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\nHere is a primer for those who would like to understand focal mechanisms better (from the USGS<\/a>). Normal earthquakes are extensional, reverse earthquakes are compressional, and strike-slip earthquakes are the result of shear.
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\nReferences:<\/p>\n