Solomon islands. Photo source: ©© ILO
Excerpts;
A powerful earthquake off the Solomon Islands generated a small, but deadly tsunami on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. The 8.0 magnitude temblor, which struck near the town of Lata, on Santa Cruz in Temotu province, prompted watches and warnings for the Solomons and other South Pacific nations.
Solomons officials reported two 4-foot, 11-inch waves hitting the western coast of Santa Cruz Island. According to George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister, 70 to 80 homes and properties were damaged.
Read Full Article, Huffington Post / AP
What Caused the Solomon Islands Earthquake & Tsunami? Our Amazing Planet
The deadly earthquake and tsunami that hit the Solomon Islands today struck along a subduction zone, the same geologic setting responsible for the world’s most powerful earthquakes. In a subduction zone, two of Earth’s tectonic plates meet and one slides beneath the other into the mantle, the deeper layer beneath the crust. The Solomon Islands sits above the collision between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of today’s magnitude-8.0 earthquake, the Australia plates dives beneath the Pacific plate toward the east-northeast at a geologically speedy 3.7 inches (94 millimeters) per year, according to the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). The earthquake hit at a depth of 17.8 miles (28.7 kilometers) and was the second largest earthquake in the Solomon Islands region in almost 40 years, IRIS said in a statement. Several aftershocks followed, the largest measuring magnitude 6.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
