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7.0-magnitude undersea quake hits near Vanuatu in South Pacific, no tsunami alert
Tsunami animation courtsey GDACSNEW YORK — The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting a powerful undersea earthquake off the South Pacific island of Vanuatu.
The U.S.G.S. says a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck at 5:19 a.m. Sunday local time (1819 GMT) at a depth of 28.5 kilometers (17.7 miles). Its epicenter was 69 kilometers (42 miles) south-southwest of the Vanuatu capital of Port-Vila.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says no tsunami warning is in effect.
Vanuatu is part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from South America through Alaska and down through the South Pacific. Read more…
Japan’s Northeast Hit by 6.8 Magnitude Quake
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan‘s northeastern coast Friday, triggering a 50 cm (20 inch) tsunami warning that was lifted about 35 minutes later.The epicenter of the quake, which hit at 2:36 pm, was off the coast of Fukushima, 20 km below Earth’s surface, the same region where the massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck on March 11, followed by the devastating 30-meter tsunami, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The agency said there was no damage from Fridays’s quake and the tsunami advisory was lifted after no waves were sighted. Some highways were closed and high-speed bullet trains were halted after the quake, public broadcaster NHK said.
Friday’s tremor was felt in Tokyo where buildings Read more…
China quake measuring 5.8 leaves 26 injured
Beijing: Twenty-six people were injured, three of them critically, and a number of houses damaged when a 5.8-magnitude earthquake on Thursday hit northwest China, the official media said.
The epicentre of the quake was at the border area between the region’s Atux City in the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture and Jiashi County in Kashghar, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The quake that struck Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region occurred at 6:06 pm local time, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.
It has also toppled more than 30 units of housing, according to a spokesman with the Jiashi County Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Two days ago three persons were injured and more than 40,000 people affected when a 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit southwest Yunnan Province.
Japan tsunami broke huge icebergs off Antarctica
The massive March 11 Japan earthquake and its ensuing tsunami were so powerful that they broke off huge icebergs thousands of miles away in Antarctica, according to a new study.
The calving of icebergs (where a huge chunk of ice breaks off from a glacier or ice shelf) from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica was linked to the tsunami, which originated with the magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of the Japanese island of Honshu, by satellite observations of the Antarctic coast immediately after the earthquake.
Icebergs have been reported to calve following earthquakes before, including after the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand, on Feb 22. But the new finding marks the first direct observation of such a connection between tsunamis and iceberg calving.
6.0 Quakes Every Day, California Swarms
Papua New Guinea rattled by 6.8 quake
SYDNEY — The Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea was jolted by a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake Monday, prompting a minor tsunami warning, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at a depth of 16 kilometres (10 miles), some 131 km (81 miles) east of Wewak and 706 kilometres north of the capital Port Moresby.
“No destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
“However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometers of the earthquake epicentre.
“Authorities in the region of the epicentre should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action.”
GeoScience Australia measured the quake at 6.6 and said it would have been felt more than 800 kilometres (496 miles) away, but damage would only have been caused within a radius of 67 kilometres from the epicentre.
The PNG Geophysical Observatory said that residents of the coastal town of Wewak, home to about 18,000 people, would have been severely shaken, but early reports suggested no major damage or injuries.
“Preliminary reports we are receving indicate that no real life-threatening damage and it is not an event where a tsunami is thought to be Read more…
Japan’s Big Earthquake Rattled The Ionosphere
The giant 11 March 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake not only shook the Earth and caused devastating tsunamis but also rattled the ionosphere, according to a new study.
Image: NASAThe ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, comprising portions of the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical importance because, among other functions, it influences radio propagation to distant places on the Earth. Read more…
Scientists Study Future Megathrust Earthquake In Pacific Northwest
The Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, USA, and British Columbia, Canada, could be among the hardest hit locations in the event of a future megathrust earthquake along the Pacific coast.
A new study led by Simon Fraser University earth scientist Andy Calvert and published in Nature Geoscience this week indicates the depth of the fault between the two tectonic plates forming the Earth’s surface in the Pacific Northwest is seven kilometres deeper than previously proposed.
Calvert speculates it may mean part of the fault’s locked zone — where a megathrust earthquake can occur — could be beneath the Olympic Peninsula.
Calvert’s team studied a 200-kilometre section of a fault formed by the subduction of the oceanic Juan de Fuca plate under the Read more…
Ring of Fire: Update
Labor market risks of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in southern California
PDF file of this Regional Report | Other BLS Regional Reports
Authors:
Richard Holden, Amar Mann, and Tian Luo
Bureau of Labor Statistics Read more…
Something is DEFINITELY wrong with our planet. (TIMELINE of Disasters, facts, and anomalies)
Apotheosis
Earthquakes
Yes Earthquakes happen all the time. In fact, they’ve happened millions of times. They began recording them in the mid 1600’s and couldn’t accurately measure the magnitude until the mid 1700’s. After reviewing past earthquakes they found it very rare that an earthquake hit over 8.5 magnitude or higher. Here is the results of all 8.5 magnitudes or higher.
1600’s there were 2 the whole century.
Lima, Peru 8.5
Valdivia, Chile 8.5
1700’s there were 5 the whole century.
Pacific Ocean, USA and Canada 8.7-9.2
Pacific Ocean, Shikoku region, Japan 8.6
Valparaiso, Chile 8.7-9.0
Concepción, Chile 8.5
Lisbon, Portugal 8.5-9.0
1800’s there were 2 the whole century. Read more…
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