Categorized | Earthquake, News

Weak 3.1M quake shakes Ka‘u Tuesday evening (March 11)


View M 3.1 – 13km E of Pahala, Hawaii in a larger map

A minor earthquake occurred on Tue Mar 11, 2014 17:42:27 HST
The magnitude 3.1 event occurred 13.3 km (8.2 mi) E of Pahala.
The hypocentral depth is 44.7 km (27.8 mi).

Magnitude
3.1 (preliminary)

Event Time
2014-03-12 03:42:27 UTC
2014-03-11 17:42:27 UTC-10:00 at epicenter
2014-03-11 17:42:27 UTC-10:00 system time

Location
19.207°N 155.354°W depth=44.7km (27.8mi)

Nearby Cities
13km (8mi) E of Pahala, Hawaii
58km (36mi) SW of Hawaiian Paradise Park, Hawaii
64km (40mi) SSW of Hilo, Hawaii
82km (51mi) SE of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
350km (217mi) SE of Honolulu, Hawaii

USGS: How large does an earthquake have to be to cause a tsunami?

Magnitudes below 6.5
Earthquakes of this magnitude are very unlikely to trigger a tsunami.

Magnitudes between 6.5 and 7.5
Earthquakes of this size do not usually produce destructive tsunamis. However, small sea level changes may be observed in the vicinity of the epicenter. Tsunamis capable of producing damage or casualties are rare in this magnitude range but have occurred due to secondary effects such as landslides or submarine slumps.

Magnitudes between 7.6 and 7.8
Earthquakes of this size may produce destructive tsunamis especially near the epicenter; at greater distances small sea level changes may be observed. Tsunamis capable of producing damage at great distances are rare in the magnitude range.

Magnitude 7.9 and greater
Destructive local tsunamis are possible near the epicenter, and significant sea level changes and damage may occur in a broader region.

Note that with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the probability of an aftershock with a magnitude exceeding 7.5 is not negligible. To date, the largest aftershock recorded has been magnitude 7.1 that did not produce a damaging tsunami.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

 

Quantcast