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megathrust earthquake

A very large earthquake that occurs when stress accumulates in the bedrock between two locked tectonic plates. Megathrust earthquakes occur in subduction zones in which one of the earth's plates is thrust under the other. When there is a sudden slip along a fault between a subducting and an overriding plate, the result is a megathrust earthquake.

The most powerful of all earthquakes, megathrusts often register 9 or above on the Richter scale. They can cause underwater landslides off a continental shelf into deep oceans. Megathrust earthquakes can also cause tsunamis if they cause vertical movements on the sea floor that displace a large volume of water.

Last updated: December 28, 2004.

 
 
Wikipedia: megathrust earthquake

A megathrust earthquake is an interplate earthquake where one tectonic plate slips beneath (subducts) another. Due to the size of the tectonic plates and the shallow dip of the plate boundary, these earthquakes are among the world's largest, with moment magnitudes that can exceed 9.0.

For the most part they occur in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and are connected to the Ring of Fire. Since these earthquakes deform the ocean floor, they almost always generate a significant tsunami.

All five earthquakes since 1900 of magnitude 9 or greater have been megathrust earthquakes.

Some examples of megathrust earthquakes are:

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