Causes of earthquakes
The August 29, 2016 Magnitude 7.1 earthquake north of Ascension Island, in the south Atlantic Ocean, occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting on or near the plate boundary separating the Nubia (Africa) and South America plates, part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge System. The preliminary location and focal mechanism solution of the earthquake are consistent with the event being associated with right lateral transform faulting on the Romanche Transform (the seismically active section of the Romanche Fracture Zone), though more detailed analyses of the event will be required to definitively determine the causative fault. At the location of this earthquake, the Nubia and South America plates diverge at the rate of approximately 29 mm/yr, on an east-west axis.
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