Dutchsinse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M_6UMft-kA

----------

The August 12, 2021 M 7.5 earthquake in the South Sandwich Islands occurred as the result of reverse faulting at approximately 63 km depth in the Scotia subduction zone. The focal mechanism solution indicates slip occurred on either a shallowly dipping fault striking east-southeast and dipping to the southwest, or on a steeply dipping fault striking to the northwest and dipping to the northeast. At the location of this earthquake, the South America plate subducts westward beneath the Scotia plate and South Sandwich microplate. The South America plate subducts at a rate of ~71 mm/yr relative to the South Sandwich microplate. The depth and focal mechanism solution of this event indicate it occurred as the result of intraplate faulting within the lithosphere of the subducting South America plate, rather than on the shallower thrust faulting plate boundary between the South America and South Sandwich plates. The top of the subducting plate in the vicinity of this earthquake is located at a depth of ~25km. Given the estimated depths of the earthquake and of the subducted slab, the August 2021 earthquake likely initiated in the lower half of the subducted South America plate as a result of compressional forces caused by downward bending of the subducted plate.

While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area. Events of the size of the August 12, 2021 earthquake are typically about 100 km x 35 km in size (length x width).

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000f4ly/executive

------------

Fox.