Strong and shallow M6.5 earthquake near Bouvet Island, South Atlantic

strong-and-shallow-m6-5-earthquake-near-bouvet-island-south-atlantic

A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.5 hit near Bouvet Island, South Atlantic Ocean at 18:03 UTC on December 13, 2017. The agency is reporting a depth of 15.1 km (9.4 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.5 and a preliminary depth of 300 km (186 miles).

According to the USGS, the epicenter was located 84 km (52 miles) NNW of Bouvet Island, 2 203 km (1 369 miles) SE of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, Saint Helena and 2 572 km (1598 miles) SW of Hermanus, South Africa.

There are no people living within 100 km (62 miles).

Based on all available data, there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake.

Bouvet Island earthquake December 13, 2017 - Regional Seismicity

Regional seismicity

Bouvet Island earthquake December 13, 2017 - Regional Seismicity

This is the third M6+ earthquake in this region in the past 2 months.

Bouvet Island is an uninhabited volcanic subantarctic island and dependency of Norway located in the South Atlantic Ocean, outside of the Antarctic Treaty System.

It lies at the southern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and is the most remote island in the world, approximately 2 600 km (1 600 miles) south-southwest of the coast of South Africa and approximately 1 700 km (1 100 miles) north of the Princess Astrid Coast of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica.

Featured image credit: USGS

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