The United States Geological Survey
recorded a Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake at a depth of 6.4 km benrath the northern part of Lombok Island in Indonesia slightly after 6.45 am local
time on Sunday 29 July 2018 (slightly after 10.45 pm on Saturday 28 July GMT) on Sunday 12 February 2017. The event was felt
across most of Bali and Lombok islands, and eastern parts of Java, and there are fourteen reported fatalities associated with this event, including at east one freign tourist, a Malasian National, at the time of writing, as well as over a hundred people injured and more than a thousand made homeless.
Buildings destroyed by an Earthquake beneath northern Lombok Island on 29 July 2018. AFP.
The
Indo-Australian Plate, which underlies the Indian Ocean to the south of
Java, Bali and Lombok, is being subducted beneath the Sunda Plate, a
breakaway part of the Eurasian Plate which underlies the islands and
neighbouring Sumatra, along the Sunda Trench, passing under the islands,
where friction between the two plates can cause Earthquakes. As the
Indo-Australian Plate sinks further into the Earth it is partially
melted and some of the melted material rises through the overlying Sunda
Plate as magma, fuelling the volcanoes of Java and neighbouring
islands.
Subduction along the Sunda Trench beneath Java, Bali and Lombok. Earth Observatory of Singapore.
Meanwhile, to the north of Lombok and eastwards through the Lesser Sunda Islands, the Eurasian Plate is also being subducted beneath tje islands, creating a separate microplate. the Timor Plate, with subduction beneath it to both the south and the north.
The subduction zones beneath the Timor Microplate. Hamson (2004).
Witness
accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events,
and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit
organization Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.
The approximate location of the 29 July 2018 Lombok Earthquake. USGS,
See also...
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