1918 Kuril Islands earthquake and tsunami

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1918 Kuril Islands earthquake and tsunami
Relief Map of Kurily.png
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UTC  time1918-09-07 17:16:27
ISC  event 913260
USGS-ANSS ComCat
Local date8 September 1918 (1918-09-08)
Local time04:16:27 MAGT (UTC+11)
Magnitude Mw 8.1
Depth15 km (9 mi)
Epicenter 44°59′53″N152°19′12″E / 44.998°N 152.320°E / 44.998; 152.320
Areas affected Kuril Islands, Russia
Max. intensity MMI VI (Strong)
Tsunami12 m (39 ft)
Casualties23 fatalities, 7 injuries

The 1918 Kuril Islands earthquake occurred on 8 September at 04:16 MAGT (17:16 UTC on 7 September), with a moment magnitude of 8.1. [1] The earthquake generated a tsunami that affected across the North Pacific Ocean killing 23 people and injuring seven others. [2]

Contents

Tectonic setting

The earthquake occurred off the Kamchatka Peninsula's east coast, which runs parallel to the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, the area where the Pacific and Okhotsk Sea plates converge. Being older and denser, the Pacific plate subducts beneath the Kamchatka Peninsula, which sits on the Okhotsk Sea Plate. These plates subduct along a convergent boundary, marked by the trench. The subduction zone is seismogenic and produces Kamchatka earthquakes, which occasionally generate tsunamis. Earthquakes associated with the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone are of the megathrust type. The subduction zone is associated with at least two known ~9.0 Mw  earthquakes in the pre-instrumental period; 1737 and 1841. [3] The 1737 earthquake measured Mw  9.0–9.3, and generated the largest known tsunami on the peninsula. [4] Another Mw  9.0 earthquake struck the peninsula on May 17, 1841 and generated a tsunami up to 15 meters high. [5]

Earthquake

The earthquake had an epicenter located in the Pacific Ocean, from the island of Urup which is a part of the southern Kuril Islands. The earthquake had a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). [1] The seismic shaking produced by this earthquake was also reported in parts of Japan. The event most likely occurred on the subduction zone based on the presence of the large tsunami and felt area. About two-thirds of the northern rupture zone may have re-ruptured in a Mw  8.5 earthquake in 1963. [6] Adjacent sections of the subduction zone ruptured during the 1963 and 2006 earthquakes. In November 1918, a Mw  7.8 earthquake occurred 160 km (99 mi) away from the September event. [7]

Tsunami

The mainshock generated a tsunami with a height of 12 m (39 ft) along the Kuril Islands. The tsunami killed 23 people and injured 7 others. Nineteen homes were also damaged. [2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 ANSS. "M 8.1 - east of the Kuril Islands 1918". Comprehensive Catalog. U.S. Geological Survey.
  2. 1 2 National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. "Tsunami Event Information" . Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  3. ↑ Chubarov L.B.; V. K. Gusiakov. "Tsunamis and earthquake mechanism in the island arc region". Science of Tsunami Hazards. 3 (1): 3–21.
  4. ↑ V.K. Gusiakov (2000). "Two great kamchatka tsunamis, 1737 and 1952" (PDF) (paper). Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences: IUGG Tsunami Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-07-09. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  5. ↑ Alexander A Gusev; L.S. Shumilina (2004). "Recurrence of Kamchatka strong earthquakes on a scale of moment magnitudes" (PDF). Izvestiya Physics of the Solid Earth. 40 (3): 206–215.
  6. ↑ Lay, Thorne; Kanamori, Hiroo; Ammon, Charles J.; Hutko, Alexander R.; Furlong, Kevin; Rivera, Luis (2009). "The 2006–2007 Kuril Islands great earthquake sequence". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 114 (B11). doi:10.1029/2008JB006280.
  7. ↑ Hashimoto, Tetsuo; Yokota, Takashi (2022). "Successive Occurrence of Large Earthquakes Along the Kuril Trench". Journal of Disaster Research. 17 (6): 1059–1067. doi: 10.20965/jdr.2022.p1059 .
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