7.1 Earthquake Strikes Mid-Atlantic On Major Transform Fault
(CBS SF) — The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded a strong earthquake which struck in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean Friday morning to a magnitude of 7.1.
The quake was first reported with a magnitude of 6.8 which, due to the logarithmic nature of the Richter scale, means the new value of 7.1 released nearly twice as much energy as the previous estimate.
The quake struck at 10:59 a.m. with its epicenter about 715 miles southeast of Nanortalik, Greenland and 937 miles west of Tralee, Ireland at a depth of 6 miles.
The quake occurred on or near a transform fault that forms part of the North America / Eurasia plate boundary, the USGS reported.
"At the latitude of this earthquake, the North America plate moves approximately westward at a rate of 21 mm/yr with respect to Eurasia," according to the Survey's website.
"A destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data," according to a statement from NOAA.
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Strong earthquakes with an epicenter off the coast can trigger tsunamis, depending on the size and type of the fault movement. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center tracks earthquake data for the West Coast.
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