Deep-focus earthquake

Seismicity cross-section across part of the Kuril Islands subduction zone. Many deep earthquakes have occurred.

A deep-focus earthquake in seismology (also called a plutonic earthquake) is an earthquake with a hypocenter depth exceeding 300 km. They occur almost exclusively at convergent boundaries in association with subducted oceanic lithosphere. They occur along a dipping tabular zone beneath the subduction zone known as the Wadati–Benioff zone.[1]

  1. ^ Frolich, Cliff (1989). "The Nature of Deep-Focus Earthquakes". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 17: 227–254. Bibcode:1989AREPS..17..227F. doi:10.1146/annurev.ea.17.050189.001303.