Magnitude 7.2 - KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA

• Details
• Summary
• Maps
• Scientific & Technical

Earthquake Details

• This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
• Did you feel it? Report shaking and damage at your location. You can also view a map displaying accumulated data from your report and others.

Earthquake Summary

Earthquake Summary Poster

Tectonic Summary

The recent earthquake near Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia of February 11, 2009 likely occurred as a result of reverse faulting on or near the plate-boundary system separating the Philippine Sea and Celebes Sea basins. Northeastern Indonesia is characterized by complex tectonics in which motions of numerous small plates are accommodating large-scale convergence between the Philippine Sea and Sunda plates. In the region of today's earthquake, the Philippine Sea plate moves west-northwest with respect to the Sunda plate at a velocity of about 62 mm/year. Locally, arc-arc collision is occurring between the Sangihe and Halmahera micro plates, wedging between them the Molucca Sea micro plate, which subducts beneath both (i.e. to the east and west) and forms an inverted-U-shaped seismic zone. Seismicity within the Molucca Sea plate is active to depths of approximately 260 km to the east and 400 km to the west. The tectonic setting of this region is unique in that it is the only global example of an active arc-arc collision consuming an oceanic basin via subduction in two directions.

The earthquake occurred approximately 30 km off the western coast of the Pulau Salebabu (Indonesia) in an area that has seen large earthquakes in the past. Since 1986, there have been two earthquakes with magnitude greater than 7 in this region.

Earthquake Information for Asia

Earthquake Information for Indonesia

Tsunami Information

• NOAA West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center
• NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

The earthquake locations and magnitudes cited in these NOAA tsunami bulletins are very preliminary and may be superceded by USGS locations and magnitudes computed using more extensive data sets.

• Tsunami Information Links

Earthquake Maps

• 
  Earthquake Location
• 
  Location Maps
• 
  Did You Feel It? Tell Us
• 
  ShakeMap
• 
  PAGER
  Population Exposure
• 
  Historical Seismicity
• 
  Seismic Hazard Map
• 
  EQ Density Map
• 
  Google Map
• 
  Google Earth KML
  (Requires Google Earth)

Scientific & Technical Information

• USGS Centroid Moment Tensor Solution
• Global CMT Project Moment Tensor Solution
• USGS Body-Wave Moment Tensor Solution
• USGS WPhase Moment Tensor Solution
• Historic Moment Tensor Solutions
• Phase Data
• Theoretical P-Wave Travel Times
• Energy and Broadband Solution