The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 3.9 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, beneath the Gulf of Aqaba, roughly 3 km off the coast of the city of Aqaba in southern Jordan, at about 5.30 am local time (about 2.30 am GMT) on Tuesday 15 December 2020. There are no reports of any serious damage or injuries from this quake, but people have reported feeling it in Jordan and Israel.
The Gulf of Aqaba lies on the boundary between the African and Arabian Plates, and is bisected by the Dead Sea Transform Margin (sometimes the Levant Transform Margin or Levant Transform Fault), with the east of the country located on the Arabian Plate, and the west on the African Plate. Both of these plates are moving northward, but the Arabian Plate is moving at a greater rate, driven by seafloor spreading beneath the Red Sea, creating a leading to transform movement on the plate margin that runs through the Gulf of Aqaba, the Dead Sea, and Lebanon, with the Arabian Plate moving northward relative to the African Plate.
Sea floor spreading is occurring at a faster rate beneath the southern Red Sea than the north, with the effect that the Arabian Plate is also rotating relative to the African Plate. This results in a slightly complex situation in Lebanon, with a network of faults underlying the region, all with the potential for movement, which can result in quakes anywhere in the country.
See also...
