__NOTOC__ The 1946 Dominican Republic earthquake occurred on August 4 at 13:51 AST near Samaná,

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. It was the largest earthquake to occur in the instrumental area in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. It generated a tsunami that was observed as far as

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. A total of 1,790 deaths were reported.

Tectonic setting

The Dominican Republic is located on the eastern part of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, which is the site of a complex tectonic environment. The North American plate undergoes

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

below the Caribbean plate. In addition, the seismically active strike-slip Septentrional–Oriente fault zone runs through the northern part of the island. It has been estimated that the fault accumulates about of strain every year. Major earthquakes (M>=7) have occurred in the northeastern Caribbean at least eleven times over the past 250 years, at least five of which have been located on the megathrust.

Earthquake

The earthquake occurred on August 4 at 13:51 AST with an epicenter near the coast of Samaná Province in the northern Dominican Republic. The

mainshock In seismology, the mainshock is the largest earthquake in a sequence, sometimes preceded by one or more foreshocks, and almost always followed by many aftershocks. Foreshock A foreshock is an earthquake that occurs before a larger seismic ev ...

measured 7.8 on the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

; 8.1 on the

surface-wave magnitude The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This mag ...

scale, and originated at a depth of . It was caused by movement on a northeast-dipping thrust fault striking northwest. At least 63 aftershocks followed the largest earthquake including a magnitude 7.0 event that struck the coast on August 8. These aftershocks were distributed offshore along a west–northwest trending zone measuring . Several aftershocks with focal depths greater than delineate a south or southwest dipping plate that is subducted beneath the region. A

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

was generated by the initial earthquake and caused widespread devastation across

. The tsunami was observed in much of the Caribbean and the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.Historic Earthquakes: Samana, Dominican Republic 1946
,

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

, Retrieved June 10, 2008 Maximum tsunami heights exceeded in several locations, with a height of observed at Playa Boca Nueva, although it was likely associated with splash-up. A small tsunami was also recorded by tide gauges at

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and in the United States at Daytona Beach,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

. Approximately 1,790 people were killed by the earthquake and tsunami.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1946 Dominican Republic Earthquake Dominican Republic Earthquake, 1946 Earthquakes in the Caribbean Natural disasters in the Dominican Republic

Earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

1940s tsunamis Tsunamis in the Dominican Republic

Tectonic setting

Earthquake

See also

References

Further reading

External links