M5.0 - 109km NE Of Minab, Iran2012-05-14 10:12:35 UTC
Summary
Location and Magnitude contributed by: USGS National Earthquake Information Center
General
Iran
27.942°N, 57.746°E
Depth: 25.0km
27.942°N, 57.746°E
Depth: 25.0km
Iran
27.942°N, 57.746°E
Depth: 25.0km
27.942°N, 57.746°E
Depth: 25.0km
50 km
20 mi
Event Time
- 2012-05-14 10:12:35 UTC
- 2012-05-14 14:42:35 UTC+04:30 at epicenter
- 2012-05-14 06:12:35 UTC-04:00 system time
Nearby Cities
- 109km (67mi) NE from Minab, Iran
- 142km (88mi) SSW from Bam, Iran
- 167km (103mi) ENE from Bandar 'Abbas, Iran
- 182km (113mi) NE from Qeshm, Iran
- 486km (301mi) N from Muscat, Oman
Tectonic Summary
Seismotectonics of the Middle East and Vicinity
No fewer than four major tectonic plates (Arabia, Eurasia, India, Africa) and one micro-plate (Antatolia) are responsible for seismicity in the Middle East and surrounding region. Relative motions between plates and their internal deformation are accommodated by subduction of the lithosphere, strike-slip fault systems, continental collision and rifting.
Earthquakes and active faults in western and northern Pakistan, as well as adjacent parts of Afghanistan, are the result of the India plate moving northwards at a rate of about 40 mm/yr and colliding with the Eurasian plate. Along the northern edge of the Indian subcontinent, subduction and continental thickening cause uplift that produces the highest mountain peaks in the world, including the Himalayan, Karakoram, Pamir and Hindu Kush ranges. West and south of the Himalayan front, the relative motion between the two plates is oblique, resulting in strike-slip, reverse-slip, and oblique-slip faulting. Shallow, destructive earthquakes have occurred throughout Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. For example, the 30 May 1935 M7.5 Quetta, Pakistan earthquake killed approximately 60,000 people. Off the south coast of Pakistan and Iran, the Makran trench is the surface expression of active subduction of oceanic lithosphere of the Arabia plate beneath Eurasia at a rate of about 20 mm/yr. Although the Makran subduction zone has a relatively slow convergence rate, it has produced large devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. For example, the November 27, 1945 M8.3 mega-thrust earthquake produced a tsunami within the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, killing over 4,000 people. Northwest of this active subduction zone, collision of continental lithosphere of the Arabian and Eurasian plates generates the fold and thrust belt of the Zagros Mountains, a 1,500-km-long mountain-belt that runs approximately southeast by northwest across the whole of western Iran and extends into eastern Iraq. Shortening due to compressional tectonics is also occurring in the Alborz Mountains and Kopet Dag in northern Iran, and eastern Iran experiences destructive earthquakes that originate on both strike-slip and reverse faults. For example, the 16 September 1978 M7.3 earthquake, in the Dasht-e-Lut basin, killed 25,000 people.
To the west, the Africa plate moves northwards relative to the Arabia plate towards Eurasia. Relative motion between the Africa and Arabia plates is primarily accommodated at the boundary of these two plates along the Dead Sea Transform and Red Sea Rift. Seismicity rate and size of earthquakes has been relatively small along the Red Sea Rift, but the rifting process has produced a series of volcanic systems across western Saudi Arabia. Historically, earthquake activity along the Dead Sea Transform has been a significant hazard in the densely populated Levant.
The North Anatolian Fault accommodates much of the crustal deformation due to the interaction between Africa, Eurasia and Arabia. As the African and Eurasian plates collide, closing the Mediterranean basin, the Anatolian micro-plate is pushed westwards, leading to right-lateral motion of approximately 25 mm/yr with respect to Eurasia. Between 1939 and 1999 a series of devastating M7+ strike-slip earthquakes propagated westwards along the North Anatolian Fault system. The westernmost of these earthquakes was the 1999 M7.6 Izmit earthquake, near the Sea of Marmara.
