Magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit South Sandwich Islands area

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Posted by Chillymanjaro on December 11, 2011 at 22:43 UTC (7 years ago)
Category: Seismic activity

Mggnitude 6.2 earthquake hit South Sandwich Islands region today at 09:54:55 UTC (07:54:55 AM Local Time). Epicenter was 104 km (64 miles) NW of Visokoi Island, South Sandwich Islands and 354 km (219 miles) NNW of Bristol Island, South Sandwich Islands (55.980°S, 28.238°W) with depth of 115.5 km (71.8 miles) according to USGS. Magnitude 6.1 was recorded by EMSC with depth of 128 km (79.5 miles). There were no casualties because the islands are only populated with birds. South Sandwich islands are Sub-Antarctic volcanic islands.

Satellite map of the greater epicenter area

The South Sandwich Islands are a group of volcanic islands in the southern ocean. They are a Volcanic Island Arc, made up of volcanoes on South Sandwich Microplate, a small tectonic plate between the South American, Scotia and Antarctic Plates. The South American Plate is being subducted beneath the South Sandwich Plate, as this happens rocks from the plate are drawn into the mantle of the Earth, where they are melted by heat from the Earth's core. Lighter material then rises up through the overlying South Sandwich Plate, where it is extruded at the surface, forming basalt volcanoes.

Mount Hodson is located on Visokoi Island, 56 km to the east of Leskov Island and 47 km southeast of Zavodski Island. The volcano rises 1005 m above sea level ('visokoi' means 'high' in Russian). Plumes were seen above the volcano in 1830 and 1930. (New Submarine Volcanoes discovered in the South Sandwich Islands - Science Thoughts)

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