The 2006 Kamchatka earthquake occurred on . This shock had a

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

of 7.6 and a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

of X (''Extreme''). The

hypocenter In seismology, a hypocenter or hypocentre () is the point of origin of an earthquake or a subsurface nuclear explosion. A synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Earthquakes An earthquake's hypocenter is the position where the strain energy ...

was located near the coast of

Koryak Autonomous Okrug Koryak may refer to: *Koryaks, a people of northeastern Siberia *Koryak language, language of the Koryaks *Koryak Okrug, an administrative division of Kamchatka Krai, Russia *Koryak, the son of Aquaman Aquaman is a superhero appearing in A ...

at an estimated depth of 22 km, as reported by the

International Seismological Centre The International Seismological Centre (ISC) is a non-governmental, nonprofit organisation charged with the final collection, definitive analysis and publication of global seismicity. The ISC was formed in 1964 as an international organisation ...

. This event caused damage in three villages and was followed by a number of large aftershocks. Two M6.6 earthquakes struck on April 29 at 16:58 UTC and again on May 22 at 11:12 UTC. These earthquakes caused no deaths; however, 40 people were reported injured.

Tectonic setting

The northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula lies away from the

convergent boundaries A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can be defined by a ...

of the

Kuril–Kamchatka Trench The Kuril–Kamchatka Trench or Kuril Trench (russian: Курило-Камчатский жёлоб, ''Kurilo-Kamchatskii Zhyolob'') is an oceanic trench in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It lies off the southeast coast of Kamchatka and parallels ...

and the

Aleutian Trench The Aleutian Trench (or Aleutian Trough) is an oceanic trench along a convergent plate boundary which runs along the southern coastline of Alaska and the Aleutian islands. The trench extends for from a triple junction in the west with the Ulak ...

but across the boundary between two blocks within the North American Plate, the Kolyma-Chukotka and Bering Sea microplates. This boundary accommodates both active shortening and right lateral strike-slip across a series of large SW–NE trending faults.

Earthquake

The focal mechanism of the earthquake was consistent with reverse faulting on a northwest- dipping fault. Fieldwork carried out immediately after the earthquake and in the following summer identified a 140 km long zone of

surface rupture In seismology, surface rupture (or ground rupture, or ground displacement) is the visible offset of the ground surface when an earthquake rupture along a fault affects the Earth's surface. Surface rupture is opposed by buried rupture, where th ...

. This rupture consisted of a series of en echelon surface breaks. The type of observed displacement varied from dominantly reverse faulting to oblique reverse-right lateral to dominantly strike-slip. The vertical component of displacement was locally in the range 4–5 m, the horizontal component was always less than 3 m.

References

External links

''The earthquakes on Kamchatka'' РИА "Новости"

M7.6 - near the east coast of Koryakskiy Autonomnyy Okrug, Russia
–

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

* Earthquake 2006

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...

Earthquake, Kamchatka 2006 Earthquake 2006 2006 April 2006 events in Russia {{Asia-earthquake-stub

Tectonic setting

Earthquake

See also

References

External links