Powerful magnitude 6.0 earthquake rattles Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), shakes were reported as far west as Puerto Rico and as far south as Martinique.

The Leeward Islands in the Caribbean were shaken by a powerful magnitude 6.0 earthquake on Saturday morning.

The epicenter was measured about 43.5 miles (70.1 kilometers) from the village of Codrington on the island of Barbuda at around 10:50 a.m. local time.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), shakes were reported as far west as Puerto Rico and as far south as Martinique. 

There is no threat of a tsunami at this time.

Since 2016, there have now been four magnitude 6.0 or higher earthquakes to rattle the Lesser Antilles, and 30 since 1900.

The record is a magnitude 7.5 quake in October 1974.

According to the FOX Forecast Center, the group of islands lies on a fault line where the North and South American plates subduct beneath the Caribbean plate, which has led to the creation of many of the islands themselves.

Subduction is a process in which a tectonic plate slides beneath another and sinks into the Earth's mantle.

This is a developing story. Stick with FOX Weather for all the latest.

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