Latest Temblor An Interplate Quake: Meteorological Agency

[katty]

more: http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110311D11JFA11.htm

Latest Temblor An Interplate Quake: Meteorological AgencyTOKYO (Nikkei)--The major earthquake that struck northeastern Japan on Friday had the hallmarks of an interplate quake, which occurs at the boundary between two tectonic plates.

At the area near the epicenter, the North American plate, on which part of the Japanese archipelago lies, slips under the Pacific plate. The temblor was likely triggered when the North American plate snapped upward, releasing the accumulated strain.

A whirlpool caused by the quake-triggered tsunami at Tomakomai port in Hokkaido.The earthquake occurred near the site of another tremor that shook Miyagi Prefecture on Wednesday, so the earlier quake may have been a foreshock, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

[Demeter]

1. Thanks for the link, very interesting