A 5.6-magnitude earthquake that rattled northern Mexico on Monday has produced a small separation of the peninsula from the continent, a Mexican scientist said Tuesday.

Luis Mendoza Garcilazo from the Center of Scientific Investigation and Higher Education from Ensenada (CICESE), told the media that "though the earthquake was not related to the telluric movements reported in Indonesia, it generated a small peninsular separation."

Mendoza referred to the continuous earth movements registered in the Indian Ocean, where on Dec. 26, 2004 an earthquake measuring 9.3 degrees on the Richter scale provoked a tsunami razing most of the region.

A great part of the peninsula continues to separate from the rest of the continent at a pace of even six centimeters per year, Mendoza said.

The earthquake occurred at 4:59 local time (1059 GMT) Monday, and its epicenter was in Cortes Sea, 115 km northwest to San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur at a depth of 18 km.

The earthquake was also felt on the northern coast of Sinaloa and slightly in south Sonora.

Authorities from Baja California Sur, Sinaloa and Sonora, did not report casualties or major damages, but inspection work was going on.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2009)