The 24 June 2026 Venezuela Earthquake Sequence: A Multifault Mw 7.6 Supershear Rupture on the Boconó and San Sebastián Faults Constrained by Near- and Far-Field Observations

Abstract

On 24 June 2026, northern Venezuela was struck by a large and destructive earthquake with a scalar seismic moment equivalent to Mw 7.6. A preliminary source inversion yields a finite-fault model with two distinct plane solutions, providing evidence that the rupture propagated across two fault segments: an initial rupture along the right-lateral Boconó fault system, followed by propagation onto the offshore San Sebastián fault (SSF). The duration of ∼70 s is approximately twice the value predicted by global scaling laws, consistent with an unusually extended or multisegment source process confirmed by a multiple point source W-phase analysis. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar surface deformation models support the two-fault rupture geometry. Critically, strong-motion recordings and backprojection analysis from Alaska, European, and western United States networks indicate that the rupture along the SSF reached supershear velocities of up to ∼ 5.5 km/s at distances of ∼50 km from the hypocenter. The event released strain consistent with the slip deficit inferred from regional Global Navigation Satellite System deformation data, which had accumulated to a potential Mw 7.6 equivalent along these faults. Only a few aftershocks are observed in the inferred supershear velocity zones of the fault plane.