1963 Kuril Islands earthquake

The earthquake struck east of the Kuril Islands, then part of the Soviet Union, at 05:17 UTC on 13 October. The megathrust rupture broke a 250 km section of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, and seismometer records showed pulses indicating three areas of high slip, each about 50 km long and equivalent to moment magnitude 7.5. The islands sit on an arc built above the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate.

Origin time (UTC)

1963-10-13T05:17

Magnitude

8.5

Magnitude type

mw

Depth (km)

35

USGS event page

earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/official19631013051759_30

Category: Disasters & Incidents

Tags: megathrust, kuril-islands, subduction, soviet-union

Coordinates: 44.872, 149.483

Part of Earthquakes of magnitude 8.5 and above since 1900

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