The United States Geological Survey recorded
a Magnitude 4.7 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km a little over 100 km to the
east of the Nicobar Islands, slightly before 7.05 am local time (slightly
before 92.35 am GMT) on Friday 17 May 2018. There are no reports of
any damage
or injuries associated with this event, and it is highly unlikely that it was felt at all, due to its distance from land.
The approximate location of the 17 May 2019 Nicobar Islands Earthquake. USGS.
.
The Nicobar Islands sit on the Burma (or Burmese) Plate, a small tectonic plate which underlies part of the eastern Indian Ocean and the
western part of Sumatra. To the west of the Nicobar Islands this plate
is being subducted beneath the Indian Plate, but to the east the
situation is more complex. The Burma Plate is being pushed northward
relative to the Eurasia and the Sunda Plate (which underlies eastern
Sumatra, Java, southern Southeast Asia, most of Borneo and the western
Philippines) by the northward movement of the Indian Plate. There is also
an area of seafloor spreading beneath the Andaman Sea (separating the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands from Southeast Asia), which in turn causes stresses
within the Burma Plate, leading to a zone of faulting upon which the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are situated.
(Left) The movement of the Burma and surrounding plates. Sheth et al. (2011.(Right) Tectonic stresses within and around the Burma Plate. Renjith (2013).
See also...
Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.
