My OperaSolomon Earthquake
Monday, April 2, 2007 2:12:01 PM
Yesterday, Sunday 1 April 2007, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake occurred at the Solomon Islands.
The earthquake was followed by a tsunami. At least 15 people died after a tsunami swept ashore. The main town in the western Solomons, Gizo, was hit by waves several metres high that swamped buildings and washed people out to sea. Gizo is a small fishing town and diving centre on Ghizo island only 45km from the epicentre. The Solomon Islands is a poverty-wracked archipelago of more than 200 islands Northeast of Australia, with a population of about 552,000 people. Honiara is the capital.
In my latest Blog I wrote about ridge subduction. The location of yesterdays earthquake is at such a triple junction where a spreading centre is being subducted in a zone of convergence between the Pacific and Australian plates.
On the above USGS earthquake map I have marked the three plates involved: the Pacific Plate, the Australian Plate and the small Solomon Sea Plate. The black arrows show the movement of the Solomon Sea Plate and the Pacific Plate relative to the Australian Plate. The Red line is the ridge and the purple line the subduction zone.
The earthquake was followed by a tsunami. At least 15 people died after a tsunami swept ashore. The main town in the western Solomons, Gizo, was hit by waves several metres high that swamped buildings and washed people out to sea. Gizo is a small fishing town and diving centre on Ghizo island only 45km from the epicentre. The Solomon Islands is a poverty-wracked archipelago of more than 200 islands Northeast of Australia, with a population of about 552,000 people. Honiara is the capital.
In my latest Blog I wrote about ridge subduction. The location of yesterdays earthquake is at such a triple junction where a spreading centre is being subducted in a zone of convergence between the Pacific and Australian plates.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6516759.stm
- http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,263141,00.html
- http://geology.about.com/b/a/258002.htm
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070402/ap_on_re_au_an/south_pacific_earthquake
On the above USGS earthquake map I have marked the three plates involved: the Pacific Plate, the Australian Plate and the small Solomon Sea Plate. The black arrows show the movement of the Solomon Sea Plate and the Pacific Plate relative to the Australian Plate. The Red line is the ridge and the purple line the subduction zone.
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