1867 Virgin Islands earthquake and tsunami

The US Virgin Islands are part of the Greater Antilles that lies parallel to the Puerto Rico Trench; an oblique subduction zone where the North American Plate is underthrusted beneath the Caribbean Plate along the Lesser Antilles subduction zone transits to strike-slip along the Septentrional-Oriente fault zone. Because of this transition, the overriding Caribbean Plate begins to extend, and normal faults starts to break out as a result. Subduction and shallow crustal faults pose earthquake and tsunami risk to the area, although the Lesser Antilles megathrust has not seen any major earthquake along its subduction interface. A possible earthquake along the megathrust may have been the M_w 8.3, 1843 Guadeloupe earthquake.

The earthquake consisted of two shocks, 10 minutes apart, and the two tsunamis came 10 minutes after each shock. Shaking reportedly lasted a minute in Frederiksted, where the earthquake stirred a dust cloud that blanketed the town. Shaking reached intensity IX on the Rossi-Forel scale in the Danish West Indies.[1]

The Reid Fault located 17 km south of Saint Thomas on the northern scarp of the Anegada Trough runs for seven tens of kilometers may have ruptured and produced slip no greater than ten meters.

Another possible fault is the Zahibo Fault which is 120 km long and 30 km by measured width.[2] The rupture may have initiated at a depth of 3 km along this thrust fault. An underwater landslide triggered by movement on the seafloor would likely be the primary source of the tsunami as the run-up heights of the tsunami were unusually high, and the waves arrived almost immediately after the quake.[3]

The USS De Soto after repairs seen in Puerto Rico in 1868.

At Saint Thomas, the first wave was described as a "straight white wall, about 15 to 23 feet (4.6 to 7.0 meters)" which advanced to the harbor, 10 minutes after the earthquake. The wave picked up steamers along the way, and broke to just a few feet in front of the town. Its run-up height was 9.1 meters across the town. A smaller wave came shortly and penetrated further in the island. Thirty people perished when the waves swept them away.[1] Run-ups of 6 meters were recorded at Charlotte Amalie, where 12 people died.[4] The La Plata, a steamship serving the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was knocked over by the waves, killing nearly all of its crew onboard.

Little Saba saw the highest waves at 15.2 meters. A US Navy ship, the USS De Soto which had arrived the day before was ripped from her moorings and beached. The second wave then brought the ship with her bottom seriously damaged back to sea.[5]

At Christiansted, Saint Croix, the 7–9 meter waves drowned five people and inundated the island up to 90 meters inland. The tsunami destroyed 20 houses and stranded numerous boats inland. In some parts of the island, the waves reached a run-up height of 14.6 meters.[6] Frederiksted on the same island was hit by waves up to 7.6 meters. The surging sea water beached many vessels including a US Navy ship, USS Monongahela along the beaches of Frederiksted.[7][8]

Meanwhile, at Road Town, British Virgin Islands, the waves were between 1.2 and 1.5 meters which swept away much of the low-lying towns. In Antigua, the sea level rose 8–10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 meters) at the Saint John harbor.[6]

Eyewitnesses in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe saw the sea receding and returning, flooding the place up to 2 meters. Deshayes was hit with very high waves, an estimated 18.3 meters (60 feet) in height and a length of 5 km. The tsunami swept away many personal belongings and items. In Saint-Rose however, the waves were determined to be no more than 10 meters when a church said to house fleeing survivors, 10 meters above sea-level remained undamaged.[6]

In Puerto Rico, wave heights of 1 to 6 meters swept through the island's coast.

• List of earthquakes in the Caribbean
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