Arctic News: M5.1 Earthquake hits Greenland Sea

Saturday, April 26, 2014

M5.1 Earthquake hits Greenland Sea

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale hit the Greenland Sea on April 26, 2014, at 03:55:33 UTC at a depth of 10.00 km (6.21 mi). The epicenter of the earthquake is located right on the faultline that crosses the Arctic Ocean, at 73.479°N 7.974°E, some 567km (352mi) SSW of Longyearbyen, Svalbard.

[ click on image to enlarge ]

This follows four further recent earthquakes close to Svalbard or on the faultline north of Greenland, as indicated on above map. All these earthquakes struck at a depth of 10.00 km (6.21 mi).

Some of these earthquakes have also been discussed in earlier posts:
M4.6 - North of Franz Josef Land, 2014-04-13 02:12:19 UTC, also discussed in this post

M4.2 - North of Franz Josef Land, 2014-04-04 07:01:30 UTC

M4.4 - 262km NE of Nord, Greenland, 2014-04-22 10:30:23 UTC, also discussed in this post

M4.3 - 148km SSE of Longyearbyen, Svalbard, 2014-04-24 08:33:06 UTC
M5.1 - Greenland Sea, 2014-04-26 03:55:33 UTC

M4.5 - Gakkel Ridge, 2014-03-06 11:17.17.0 UTC, also discussed in this post

There have been a large number of earthquakes around Greenland since early 2014, as illustrated by the image below. This could be an indication of isostatic rebound, as also discussed in this earlier post.

[ click on image to enlarge ]

As melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet speeds up, isostatic rebound could cause earthquakes around Greenland to become stronger and occur more frequently. Earthquakes in this region are very worrying, as they can destabilize hydrates contained in the sediment under the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. Furthermore, one earthquake can trigger further earthquakes, especially at locations closeby on the same faultline.

Related

- M4.4 Earthquake hits Arctic Ocean north of Greenland

http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2014/04/m45-earthquake-hits-arctic-ocean.html

Post by Sam Carana.

3 comments:

UnknownApril 28, 2014 at 10:25 AM
It makes sense that isostatic rebound from Greenland could be causing these earthquakes. Earthquakes anywhere near methane hydrates are concerning.
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Sam CaranaApril 29, 2014 at 4:26 AM
Meanwhile, another eathquake hit the Greenland Sea close to the quake discussed in the post. A M4.5 quake hit the Greenland Sea, on 2014-04-28 19:54:26 UTC, at 73.115°N 6.174°E, and at a depth of 10.0km (6.2mi).
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