This morning’s deep earthquake in the Bay of Plenty was the third deep event in the bay during the past week.
Two quakes struck to the north of this morning’s event overnight on Tuesday night (19th) and Wednesday morning (20th). A magnitude 5.0 quake struck at 10:26 p.m. at a depth of 94 km and a magnitude 4.8 quake struck at 52 minutes after midnight at a depth of 64km. Both quakes were located well to the north of Te Kaha, about 400 km due east of Whangarei.
This morning’s quake was much nearer the coast, being located 50 km north of Te Kaha. The magnitude 5.0 quake which struck at 7:34 a.m. on Sunday 24th February 2008 was 60 km deep. This event was felt in the western Bay of Plenty from Whakatane to Te Kaha and at Gisborne on the East Coast.
Shallow activity has continued at Matata during the past week with a further 3 quakes with magnitudes between 3.3 and 3.6 being felt as part of the ongoing earthquake swarm.
[Compiled from data provided by the Geonet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and FRST.]