Mw 7.8 Solomon Islands

On 8 December 2016 a major earthquake occurred at the Solomon Islands at a depth of 40 km. The seismic event occurred at 17:38:46 UTC and had an estimated moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8.

December 2016 — starting on the 6th — was considered very critical due to an unusual number of planetary alignments. From the 6th to the 30th fifteen alignments occurred, which is an average of one alignment per less than two days.

Three planetary alignments from the 6th to the 8th preceded the earthquake. A strong earthquake (Mw 6.7) already occurred a few hours earlier. Lunar geometry peaked after the first alignment on the 6th. Note the second alignment on the 7th, Sun-Mercury-Neptune, which often precedes large earthquakes due to the extreme difference in orbital velocity between the innermost and outermost planets. Later on in the month, the second major earthquake (Mw 7.9) occurred after the Sun-Venus-Uranus and Sun-Mercury-Uranus alignments — i.e. the innermost planets against an outermost planet. The major earthquake at the Solomon Islands was followed by a strong aftershock (Mw 6.9) the next day.

Note: WPG analysis is not included in this report.

Venus-Sun-Jupiter         2016-12-06,  9:20:30  188°45'58"
Sun-Mercury-Neptune       2016-12-07, 18:29:55  340°58'10"
Mars-Mercury-Jupiter      2016-12-08, 16:19:27  187°26'07"
          

SSGI depiction of planetary (PG) and lunar (LG) geometry