Two Mild Earthquakes in
Nicaraguan Waters Registered
MANAGUA - Two moderate magnitude earthquakes
were recorded on Friday with just an hour of
difference in the Pacific Ocean, about 20 km
from Nicaraguan coast.
According to the Nicaraguan Institute of
Territorial Studies (Ineter), the first of
the two quakes, 4.8 degrees on the Richter
scale, took place at 08:41 local time to13
km deep and its epicenter was located 108 km
southwest of Managua.
The second, a 4.5 Richter scale quake, was
recorded at 9:42 local time in the same
area, 15 km deep and its epicenter was
located 120 km southwest of the Nicaraguan
capital.
The epicenters of both earthquakes were
located by the National Seismic System 20 km
from the coast, opposite the area of tourist
resorts Montelimar, Masachapa and Pochomil.
Both quakes were associated with tectonic
processes due to the collision between the
Cocos and Caribbean plates.
Nicaragua is in a geographical area very
close to the subduction are of the Cocos and
Caribbean tectonic plates. Often earthquakes
are recorded in this are.
Specialists called subduction to the process
in which one plate is pushed downward
beneath another plate into the underlying
mantle when plates move towards each other.
At the same time, Nicaragua is located on
the so-called Ring of Fire, an seismic zone
in horseshoe shape that goes around the
Pacific Ocean to the north, where about the
90 percent of all earthquakes are
registered. |
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