Introduction

This chapter summarizes the geographic distribution of the world's deep earthquakes by presenting information about known or alleged deep seismicity for each of 27 geographic regions (Fig. 10.1) as well as a catch-all “other” region (region 28) and the Earth's Moon (region 29). For each region it discusses the geometry of the Wadati–Benioff zone, describes the pattern of focal mechanisms, briefly reviews the literature, and provides information about “significant” earthquakes, i.e., unusually large or well-studied events. In most of the 29 regions the occurrence of deep earthquakes is undeniable. However, in a few regions (e.g., region 1 near the Hjort Trench) deep earthquakes have been reported and the regional tectonics suggest their occurrence is possible, but their existence is unconfirmed.

Catalogs

In this chapter I regularly compare locations reported in several different catalogs; to avoid repetitive citations I abbreviate these as follows.