M 7.5 - 221 km SSE of Severo-Kuril’sk, Russia
- 2020-03-25 02:49:21 (UTC)
- 48.964°N 157.696°E
- 57.8 km depth
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GREEN Estimated Economic Losses Estimated Fatalities Ground Failure - Landslide Estimate
Little or no area affected
Little or no population exposed
- Liquefaction Estimate
Little or no area affected
Little or no population exposed
Origin - Review Status
- REVIEWED
- Magnitude
- 7.5 mww
- Depth
- 57.8 km
- Time
- 2020-03-25 02:49:21 UTC
Moment Tensor Fault Plane Solution Finite Fault Cross-section of slip distribution. Tsunami U.S. Tsunami Warning System To view any current tsunami advisories for this and other events please visit https://www.tsunami.gov.
View Nearby Seismicity - Time Range
± Three Weeks - Search Radius
250.0 km - Magnitude Range
≥ 4.0
Contributors US
USGS National Earthquake Information Center, PDE
Tectonic Summary
The March 25, 2020, M 7.5 earthquake east of the Kuril Islands occurred as a result of shallow reverse faulting within the Pacific plate directly adjacent to (or beneath) the Kuril trench, where the Pacific plate subducts beneath the Okhotsk microplate. The Okhotsk microplate is itself part of the larger North America plate. Focal mechanism solutions indicate that rupture occurred on either a northwest- or southeast-striking, moderately dipping reverse fault. Slip on a fault aligned with either nodal plane of the focal mechanism solution is consistent with this intraplate setting. In this region, the Pacific plate moves northwest with respect to the Okhotsk plate at a velocity of about 86 mm/yr (~80 mm/yr with respect to North America).
While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area. Reverse-faulting events of the size of the March 25, 2020, earthquake are typically about 80x40 km (length x width).
Large and great earthquakes are common in this region. Four other M 7 and larger events have occurred within 250 km of today’s earthquake over the preceding 120 years; all were west of the oceanic trench, on or near the subduction zone interface in the region. Three M 8 and larger events have occurred within 500 km of today’s earthquake; a M 8.3 megathrust event about 425 km to the south in November 2006; a M 8.1 normal faulting earthquake just east of the trench adjacent to the November 2006 earthquake; and the M 9.0 November 1952 Kamchatka megathrust earthquake, about 430 km to the north. Damage in relation to these events was almost exclusively tsunami-related. In January 2009, a M 7.4 reverse faulting earthquake occurred at a depth of about 35 km just to the east of the oceanic trench, 300 km to the south of the March 25, 2020 earthquake. The location, depth and mechanism of that event make it most analogous to today’s earthquake. The 2009 event is not known to have caused damage, or to have generated a significant tsunami.