Geology of The Pacific Ocean - Earthquakes

Earthquakes

In March and April 2008, a series or swarm of moderate earthquakes occurred both near and within the Blanco Fracture Zone. The swarm began on 30 March when over 600 measurable tremors began occurring north of the zone within the Juan de Fuca Plate. A decade earlier, in January 1998, another swarm was detected at Axial Seamount in the Juan de Fuca Ridge. At the time of its occurrence, scientists were not aware that the series of faults in this plate even existed. In a remote region of the central Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern section of the Gilbert Islands, a major swarm of intraplate earthquakes occurred between December 1981 and March 1983, with no prior seismicity having been reported in this region previously. Another swarm was detected on the Queen Charlotte Islands fracture zone in August–September 1967.