1843 Guadeloupe earthquake

Earthquake affecting the Caribbean 1843 Guadeloupe earthquake Middle America official18430208145000000 yes 8 February 1843 10:37 AM 8.5 unk (est.) 16.5 -62.2 region:FR-GUA_type:event inline,title 1,500–5,000 1.2 meters IX The 1843 Guadeloupe earthquake occurred at 10:37 local time on 8 February in the island of Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles. It had an estimated magnitude (scale unspecified) of 8.5, making it the strongest recorded earthquake in the Caribbean and a maximum perceived intensity of shaking of IX on the Mercalli intensity scale.Feuillet N. Beauducel F. Tapponnier P. Tectonic context of moderate to large historical earthquakes in the Lesser Antilles and mechanical coupling with volcanoes https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251431185 Journal of Geophysical Research 2011 116 B10 B10308 10.1029/2011JB008443 2011JGRB..11610308F 10220/8653 51826757 free The earthquake was felt widely throughout the Caribbean and as far away as New York.Hough S.E. Susan Hough 2013 Missing great earthquakes Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 118 3 1098–1108 10.1002/jgrb.50083 2013JGRB..118.1098H 128458643 free Around 1,500 to 5,000 people were killed.https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/earthquake/event-more-info/1846 National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information Significant Earthquake Information 1972 NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information 10.7289/V5TD9V7K 30 July 2022 Tectonic setting The Lesser Antilles are an island arc formed above the destructive plate boundary where the North American plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean plate at a rate of about 2 cm per year. Historical earthquakes in this region include large megathrust earthquakes on the plate interface, such as those in 1839 and 1843, and smaller intraplate earthquakes within the arc itself, associated with oblique convergence on the plate boundary. Earthquake The magnitude of this megathrust earthquake was calculated in the range 7.5–8.0 by Bernard & Lambert in 1988. This was reassessed in 2011 by Feuillet and others, giving an 8.5 magnitude. Later work by Hough in 2013, taking account of reports of the earthquake from the US, supported a magnitude of at least 8.5 for this event. Damage In Guadeloupe, Pointe-à-Pitre suffered severe damage with a maximum of 8–900 houses being destroyed of the 1,222 that existed before the earthquake.https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_I740WrjzVUwC Tremblement de terre à la Guadeloupe le 8 février 1843 Deville Charles Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe July 1843 52 fr 1843 The earthquake was quickly followed by fires that caused further destruction.The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle for 1843 1843 277–279 https://books.google.com/books?id=eJAHvpib-VQC&pg=PA279 978-1-108-05435-5 Various Cambridge University Press The island of Antigua was also badly affected, with all churches and mills throughout the island reported destroyed. Forty deaths were reported. Damage was also reported from Montserrat, with six casualties. Tsunami On Antigua, a rise in sea level by 1.2 meters was interpreted as run-up from the tsunami triggered by the quake. A wharf on the southeast part of the island sank and took on an "undulating appearance".Robson G. R. An earthquake catalogue for the Eastern Caribbean 1530-1960 Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 1964 54 2 785–832 10.1785/BSSA0540020785 1964BuSSA..54..785R See also List of historical earthquakes List of earthquakes in the Caribbean References Category:Guadeloupe Category:1843 earthquakes Category:Megathrust earthquakes in North America Category:February 1843 Category:1843 in the Caribbean