|
Quake jolts South Atlantic
20/08/2006 09:28 - (SA)
Canberra - A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of at least 6.9 hit in the Scotia Sea between South America and Antarctica, officials said on Sunday.
No tsunami alert was issued by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said Dale Grant, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.
The warning centre monitors seismic activity in the Pacific area.
The quake struck at 01:41 local time (03:41 GMT) with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9, the USGS said. Geoscience Australia registered it at 7.0 and Japan's Meteorological Agency put the preliminary magnitude at 7.2.
The USGS estimated the earthquake's depth at 10km. The quake was centered in the Scotia Sea, approximately 495km west-southwest of Bristol Island in the South Sandwich island group, the USGS said.
It was not near any Antarctic bases and was not likely to have been felt by anyone, Geoscience Australia spokeswoman Felicity Edge said.
- AP
|
News
