The second earthquake in a week has struck north of White Island in the Bay of Plenty.
Sunday 24th January 2010
A deep magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 70 km north of White Island (210 km east of Auckland) at 7:43 this morning. The quake, which was 240 km deep, was felt at coastal Bay of Plenty communities and from Gisborne through Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu, Wairarapa to Wellington.
On the evening of Tuesday 19th, a magnitude 5.7 quake located 80 km north of White Island (220 km east of Auckland) at a depth of 230 km was similarly felt.
The earthquakes were located in the descending slab of the Pacific Plate which is sliding under the North Island. Another deep magnitude five earthquake in the descending Pacific Plate struck on Friday morning. This quake, centred below a point 40 km south-west of Taumarunui, was magnitude 5.1 and 230 km deep.
[Compiled from data provided by the GeoNet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and FRST.]