Interplate earthquake

An earthquake caused by slip on a fault at the boundary between two tectonic plates. Many occur where a subducting plate is locked against an overriding plate and then ruptures.

Subduction zone: A region where one tectonic plate descends beneath another into the mantle. Many of the largest interplate earthquakes rupture the contact between the descending and overriding plates.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake: A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011 that generated a devastating tsunami. Its unusually large slip near the trench demonstrated the potential of the Japan Trench boundary.
Tsunami: A series of long-wavelength ocean waves generated by large, sudden water displacement. Seafloor displacement during a shallow offshore interplate rupture can launch destructive waves.
Earthquake prediction: A claim that an earthquake's time, place, and magnitude can be specified in advance with useful accuracy. Interplate strain measurements do not yet make reliable short-term rupture predictions possible.
Seismic coupling: The degree to which motion between tectonic plates is accommodated by elastic strain and earthquakes rather than steady slip. Coupling determines how much plate motion can accumulate as strain on an interplate fault.
1960 Valdivia earthquake: A magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile on 22 May 1960, the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake. It ruptured a vast section of the Nazca–South American plate boundary.
Coastal subsidence: The lowering of land relative to sea level, whether sudden or gradual. Large interplate ruptures can permanently lower coastlines near the boundary.
Slow slip event: A transient episode of fault slip that lasts days to years without producing strong earthquake waves. Its relationship to stress changes and nearby interplate ruptures remains under investigation.
Elastic rebound theory: The explanation that rocks deform elastically as stress builds, then spring back when a fault slips. It describes the strain release during rupture of a locked plate boundary.
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami: A magnitude 9.1–9.3 earthquake off Sumatra on 26 December 2004 that triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean. Its rupture crossed multiple segments of a subduction boundary and caused a transoceanic tsunami.

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Intraplate earthquakeCompared with: The boundary-centered counterpart: frequent, well-mapped, and the default model intraplate quakes defy.