Mw 7.7 SE of Loyalty Isl. - SW Pacific

[davenn]

A very large Mw 7.7 quake occurred Se of the Loyalty Islands on the 10 Feb ( UT)
This location is ESE of New Caledonia and SSE of Vanuatu.

Time: 2021-02-10 13:19:55 (UTC)
Location: 23.054°S 171.601°E
Depth: 10.0 km

M 7.7 - southeast of the Loyalty Islands (usgs.gov)

It maxed out my main long period seismometer
The main shock was preceded by a number of M5+ and two M6+ events
There have been many M5+ and several M6+ aftershocks. The largest aftershock so far is an Mw6.4

Long period high gain channel, centered on 15 seconds

Intermediate period channel centered on 5 seconds

Intermediate period channel centered on 5 second showing the larger aftershocks

Dave

 

[davenn]

 

[fresh_42]

I thought the fire ring was the border of the pacific plate. Where do those earthquakes in the middle of the plate come from?

 

[gmax137]

This earthquake wasn't too far off the ring, as far as I can see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire

 

[davenn]

I thought the fire ring was the border of the pacific plate. Where do those earthquakes in the middle of the plate come from?

They are on the Pacific - Indo Australian plate boundary, and definitely not in the middle of a plate

If you look around the boundary, you will find lots of loops like this one. The boundary isn't always a single fault line.

Northern end PNG to Japan via Philippines, note the big loop east of the Philippines

Fiji to Philippines via PNG

closer up of the Fiji to PNG region ... note the comments ...