November 15, 2006 Earthquake: Kuril Islands, Russia

A great earthquake occurred 495 km (305 miles) SSW of Severo-Kuril'sk, Kuril Islands, Russia and 1665 km (1030 miles) NE of Tokyo, Japan at 5:14 AM MDT, Nov 15, 2006 (10:14 PM local time in Russia). The earthquake generated a tsunami that was observed throughout the Pacific Basin.

The earthquake was felt at Misawa and Yokosuka, Japan and at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia.

The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the boundary between the Pacific plate and the Okhotsk plate. In the region of the earthquake's epicenter, the Pacific plate moves northwest with respect to the Okhotsk plate with a velocity of about 90 mm/year. The Pacific plate subducts beneath the Okhotsk plate at the Kuril Trench and becomes progressively deeper to the northwest, remaining seismically active to a depth of 680 km. The November 15 mainshock occurred at shallow depth within about 80 km of the trench axis.

(above from reference #1053)

The earthquake is the largest earthquake to have occurred in the central Kuril Islands since the early 20th century. A central Kuril Islands earthquake in 1915 is estimated to have had a magnitude of about 8. To the southwest, the southern Kuril Islands chain experienced a magnitude 8.5 tsunamigenic earthquake in 1963. To the northeast, a magnitude 9 tsunamigenic earthquake occurred offshore of Kamchatka in 1952.