The 2010 Mindanao earthquakes occurred in the southern

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in the

Moro Gulf The Moro Gulf is the largest gulf in the Philippines. It is located off the coast of Mindanao Island, and is part of the Celebes Sea. The gulf is one of the country's tuna fishing grounds. Geography The gulf stretches between and is surrounde ...

. This was a complex sequence of events including three main events (a triplet earthquake) of magnitude 7.3 or greater on the 23rd of July, and two significant aftershocks of magnitude 6.6 on the 24th and 29th. All of these were

deep focus Deep focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique using a large depth of field. Depth of field is the front-to-back range of focus in an image, or how much of it appears sharp and clear. In deep focus, the foreground, middle ground, and ...

earthquakes, at depths from to . This resulted in minimal, but very widespread shaking at the surface, with a maximum intensity of IV (''Moderately strong'') on the PEIS scale; consequently there were no reports of casualties or damage.

Tectonic summary

The southern part of the Philippines lies above the complex collisional zone between the

Philippine Sea Plate The Philippine Sea Plate or the Philippine Plate is a tectonic plate comprising oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines. Most segments of the Philippines, including northern Luzon, are part o ...

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 Located in the western Pacific Ocean near Indonesia, the Molucca Sea Plate has been classified by scientists as a fully subducted microplate that is part of the Molucca Sea Collision Complex. The Molucca Sea Plate represents the only known example ...

, is currently being

subducted Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

beneath both the

and the Sangihe Microplate, causing it to have an inverted U-shape

seismic zone In seismology, a seismic zone or seismic belt is an area of seismicity potentially sharing a common cause. It may also be a region on a map for which a common areal rate of seismicity is assumed for the purpose of calculating probabilistic ground ...

. The earthquakes were caused by the continuing distortion of the Molucca Sea Plate. These three quakes of similar magnitude occurring in such close proximity of each other location-wise and time-wise can be regarded as an example of a triplet earthquake.

Areas affected

These earthquakes occurred in

, off the island of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

. The 7.6 earthquake were felt in Philippines,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The 7.4 earthquake were felt in Philippines,

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

, Malaysia, and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2010 Mindanao Earthquakes Mindanao Earthquakes, 2010 Mindanao earthquakes, 2010 2010 in the Philippines July 2010 events in the Philippines Earthquakes in the Philippines Earthquake clusters, swarms, and sequences

Tectonic summary

Areas affected

See also

References

External links