The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake at a depth of 16.0 km, off the west ciast of Costa Rica, roughly 41 km to the west of the town of Tamarindo in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, slightly before 11.45 am local time (slightly before 5.45 pm GMT) on Saturday 12 October 2024. There are no reports of any damage or casualties associated with this event, but it was felt across much of northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua.
Costa Rica lies on the southern margin of the Caribbean Plate; to the south of the country the Cocos Plate, which underlies part of the eastern Pacific Ocean) is being subducted under the Middle American Trench, passing under Central America as it sinks into the Earth's interior. This is not a smooth process, and the plates often stick together until the pressure builds up enough to force them to shift suddenly, causing Earthquakes. As the Cocos Plate sinks deeper if is partially melted by the friction and the heat of the Earth's interior. Some of the melted material then rises up through the overlying Caribbean Plate, fuelling the volcanoes of Central America.
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