Powerful quakes on two far ends of Ring of Fire

Wellington: New Zealand is on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, which form part of the so-called “Ring of Fire”. The region experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year. South America meanwhile, with Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador, brings up the other end of this earthquake hotspot. Overall then, the Ring of fire is a region that stretches over 30,000 kilometres, dotted with over 450 volcanoes - that is 75 per cent of all of the Earth’s volcanic activity.

The quakes in New Zealand and Argentina were just hours apart. But they were also separated by 9,000 kilometres. Science has it that a relation between quakes spread so far apart is unlikely because they are part of separate tectonic plates. The two quakes that struck Japan and Ecuador — just hours after each other — on April 16 this year are a classic example. Both quakes exceeded 7.0 on the Richter scale but the Ecuador tremor — a massive 7.8 monster — was identified as a megathrust event. Megathrust quakes are the most powerful earthquakes on the planet and occurs on the boundaries of tectonic plates, when one slides under the other.

The Great Alaskan quake of 1964 (magnitude 9.2) and the magnitude-9.5 Chile quake of 1960 are two of the most disastrous examples of megathrust events. The quake that struck Japan in April occurred at a shallower depth along a different sort of fault. Sunday’s two quakes that struck Argentina and New Zealand are similar as far as the distance between them is concerned. But it’s highly unlikely the two are connected. However, scientists have noted that there has been an increase in earthquake activity since the start of the year. Around the time the Japan and Ecuador quakes struck, the planet registered five other quakes within 48 hours.