2010 Mindanao earthquakes

2010 Mindanao earthquakes

Date	July 23, 2010
Origin time	22:51:11 UTC
Magnitude	7.6 Mw
Depth	580 km (360 mi)
Epicenter	6°25′N 123°36′E / 6.41°N 123.6°E / 6.41; 123.6Coordinates: 6°25′N 123°36′E / 6.41°N 123.6°E / 6.41; 123.6
Areas affected	Philippines
Foreshocks	7.3 MW July 23 at 22:08:11
Aftershocks	7.4 MW July 23 at 23:15:08

The 2010 Mindanao earthquakes occurred in the Southern Philippines in the Moro Gulf. The sequence of events took place over several days in late July, and consisted of three primary shocks that were all over M7, but there were no reports of damage or casualties as they occurred far too deep (over 500 kilometres (310 mi)) to pose any serious threat.^[1]

Tectonic summary

The southern part of the Philippines lies above the complex collisional zone between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Sunda Plate. The convergence between these two plates of between 6–11 cm per year is accommodated by a series of smaller plates. One of these, the Molucca Sea Plate, is currently being subducted beneath both the Philippine Sea Plate and the Sangihe Microplate, causing it to have an inverted U-shape seismic zone. The earthquakes were caused by the continuing distortion of the Molucca Sea Plate.^[2] The initial M7.3 event is the foreshock of the M7.6 while the M7.4 is an aftershock of the M7.6.

Areas affected

These earthquakes occurred in Moro Gulf, off the island of Mindanao. The M_w 7.6 earthquake were felt in Philippines, Taiwan, and Malaysia.^[3] The M_w 7.4 earthquake were felt in Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia.^[4]

References

Wikinews has related news: Four earthquakes hit the Philippines in quick succession