Magnitude 6.6 Earthquake beneath Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.6 Earthquake at a depth of 99.4 km,approximately 26 km to the southwest of the city of Lae in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea, slightly after 9.05 pm local time (slightly after 11.05 am GMT) on Tuesday 7 October 2025. The Earthquake was felt as far away as Indonesian Papua and the island of New Britain, but there are no reports of any damage or casualties at this time.

The approximate location of the 7 October 2025 Morobe Province Earthquake. USGS.

The Earthquake happened slightly to the south of the boundary between the South Bismark Plate, which underlies the island of New Britain and parts of the northeastern coast of Papua New Guinea, and the Woodlark Plate, which underlies the Papuan Peninsula and parts of the Solomon Sea. These plates are being pushed together by the northeastward movement of the Australian Plate, to the south, with the South Bismarck Plate being subducted beneath the Woodlark Plate during this process. This is not a smooth process, with the rocks sticking together, then moving sharply as the pressure builds up enough to break them apart, which can also lead to Earthquakes in the region.

Major tectonic boundaries in the Papua New Guinea region along with the plate motion vectors relative to the Pacific Plate. The areas of significant relative motion can be clearly identified from the vectors, with the Australian plate subducting under the Pacific Plate and the Solomon Sea plate subducting under the South Bismarck plate. Shear motion between the North Bismarck plate and South Bismarck plate can also be recognised. Ghasemi et al. (2016).

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