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Posts Tagged ‘earthquakes’

Climate change will shake the Earth

February 27, 2012 Comments off

guardian

As the Earth's crust buckles, volcanic activity will increase.

As the Earth’s crust buckles, volcanic activity will increase. Photograph: Corbis

The idea that a changing climate can persuade the ground to shake, volcanoes to rumble and tsunamis to crash on to unsuspecting coastlines seems, at first, to be bordering on the insane. How can what happens in the thin envelope of gas that shrouds and protects our world possibly influence the potentially Earth-shattering processes that operate deep beneath the surface? The fact that it does reflects a failure of our imagination and a limited understanding of the manner in which the different physical components of our planet – the atmosphere, the oceans, and the solid Earth, or geosphere – intertwine and interact.

If we think about climate change at all, most of us do so in a very simplistic way: so, the weather might get a bit warmer; floods and droughts may become more of a problem and sea levels will slowly creep upwards. Evidence reveals, however, that our planet is an almost unimaginably complicated beast, which reacts to a dramatically changing climate in all manner of different ways; a few – like the aforementioned – straightforward and predictable; some Read more…

Categories: Climate Change, Coming Events, Earth, Earth changes Tags: , , , , ,

Strong 6.8 quake shakes Siberia, no casualties

February 27, 2012 Comments off

hindustantimes.com

A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 shook several republics in Russia’s southwestern Siberia on Sunday but caused no casualties or serious damage, the emergencies ministry said.

The tremor, which occurred at 1:20pm local time (0620 GMT) in the republic of Tyva, had its epicentre

about 107 kilometres (66 miles) from the town of Kyzyl, which saw tremors of a similar magnitude on December 27.

The remote and scarcely populated republic on the Mongolian border is one of Russia’s most seismically active regions along with its Pacific Ocean coast.

The regional emergencies ministry said the quake was felt throughout Tyva and neighbouring regions but caused no casualties or any serious structural damage, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

But several locals reported their apartment windows breaking and books and other items falling off shelves, with a series of tremors lasting four or five minutes.

“My photographs and pictures started falling Read more…

Categories: Earthquake, Russia Tags: , , ,

Scientists eye threat of Pacific Northwest megaquake

February 23, 2012 Comments off

hawaiinewsnow

Scientists used a supercomputer-driven "virtual earthquake" to explore likely ground shaking in a magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake in the Pacific Northwest. Peak ground velocities are displayed in yellow and red. The legend represents speed in meters per second (m/s) with red equaling 2.3 m/s. Although the largest ground motions occur offshore near the fault and decrease eastward, sedimentary basins lying beneath some cities amplify the shaking in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Vancouver, increasing the risk of damage. (Credit: Kim Olsen, SDSU)

EWA BEACH (HawaiiNewsNow) – Scientists say there are parallels between recent earthquakes and ground movement in the Pacific Northwest and what happened in Japan before last year’s devastating quake and tsunami.

The research was discussed over the weekend at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach are well aware of the new research.

The disaster in Japan occurred because of stress from the Pacific tectonic plate sliding below Japan. The plates locked together, slowly pushing Japan westward, and then released, resulting in the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands. Japan moved about ten to 15 feet eastward in the quake.

Scientists said the same thing is now in the works off the coast of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, as the Juan de Fuca plate moves beneath the Pacific Northwest.

“The Pacific Northwest is being deformed because the plates are locked together, and the shoreline is sinking and the rest of the thing is being bent. We can see that,” said Dr. Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist with the warning center. “It’s just like Japan, only a mirror image.”

According to Fryer, the last big earthquake in the Pacific Northwest happened in January 1700. Like the Japan quake, it also was a magnitude 9.0, and sent a destructive Pacific wide tsunami that reached Japan.

While there has been more ground movement in the northwest, there’s still the question of Read more…

Categories: Earthquake Tags: , , , , , ,

Missouri 4.0 earthquake felt across 13 states

February 21, 2012 2 comments

foxnews

SIKESTON, Mo. –  A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck early Tuesday in the southeast corner Missouri, waking up residents in as many as 12 other surrounding states.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake hit at 3:58am local time (4:58am ET). Its epicenter was located a shallow 3.1 miles (5km) underground, about 150 miles (240km) south of St. Louis, near the New Madrid fault line.

 Hundreds reported feeling the quake in Missouri, according to the USGS, with the most significant shaking occurring in Sikeston, a small city about nine miles away from the epicenter.

Outside of Missouri, the temblor was felt in Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Indiana. Residents also reported feeling the ground shake in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Save for a few reports of items falling off shelves and windows cracking, the rumbling caused no real damage.

But experts said it serves as an important reminder of Read more…

Categories: Earthquake, Missouri Tags: , ,

Strong 6.0 earthquake strikes off Oregon coast

February 15, 2012 Comments off

chicagotribune

Feb 14 (Reuters) – A strong 6.0 magnitude earthquake
struck on Tuesday roughly 160 miles off the coast of Oregon, the
U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at 7:31 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 6.2
miles in the Pacific Ocean 159 miles west of Coos Bay, Oregon.
It was felt as far away as San Francisco, California, according
to the USGS.

A spokesman for the Portland police said he did not feel the
quake. There were immediate reports of damage or injuries.

No tsunami warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning
Center.

Categories: Earthquake, Oregon Tags: , , ,

California Earthquake: Officials Warn Of Aftershocks After 5.6 Magnitude Quake Rocks Northern Coast

February 14, 2012 2 comments

ibtimes.com

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake rocked the Northern California coast Monday afternoon, yielding no immediate injuries or damage but prompting warnings of several aftershocks throughout the week.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake struck around 1:07 p.m. about 18 miles inland in Humboldt County.

(Photo: USGS.com)<br>A 5.6 magnitude earthquake rocked the Northern California coast Monday afternoon, yielding no immediate injuries or damage but prompting warnings of several aftershocks throughout the week. The quake, which struck around 1:07 p.m., had its epicenter in a rural area near Weitchpec on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation.

(Photo: USGS.com)
A 5.6 magnitude earthquake rocked the Northern California coast Monday afternoon, yielding no immediate injuries or damage but prompting warnings of several aftershocks throughout the week. The quake, which struck around 1:07 p.m., had its epicenter in a rural area near Weitchpec on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation.

Its epicenter was a rural area near Weitchpec on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. The reservation is about 240 miles north of San Francisco, and 60 miles south of the Oregon-California border.

The Northern California quake was widely felt within a 100-mile radius, according to the USGS web site. The depth of the earthquake was roughly 20.4 miles.

‘You have no control of these things.’

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department and Eureka Police Department sent officials to check on residents, but dispatchers said there were  Full article here

Categories: California, Earthquake Tags: ,

2/10/2012 — MUST SEE ! 2011 earthquakes WORLDWIDE plotted and animated (with sound intensity) !

February 10, 2012 2 comments

This is truly profound to see — the year of 2011 earthquakes plotted out on a orthographic (globe) map — ANIMATED WITH SOUND INTENSITY for each earthquake!!

many thanks to youtube user : oilcansam for informing me of this..

and even MORE thanks to:

http://monoroch.net/jishin2011/

original video uploaded with hattip and permission request:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwWn_W6ZbT4&feature=youtu.be

Categories: Earthquake Tags: ,

Philipines records an astounding 900 aftershocks in first 24 hours after 6.9 magnitude earthquake

February 8, 2012 Comments off

pia.gov

Residents walk along a damaged road caused by an earthquake in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental in central Philippines February 7, 2012. Philippine rescuers searched on Tuesday for 29 residents of a mountainside community feared dead after a landslide triggered by an earthquake engulfed their homes. A magnitude 6.7 quake struck near Tayasan town in the central Philippine island of Negros on Monday. Fifteen people are known to have been killed while several remote towns have been cut off because of damage to roads and bridges.

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Feb. 7 (PIA) — The local seismology monitors recorded as much as 900 mild aftershocks as of noontime today after the 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit Central Visayas on Feb. 6.

According to the local Philippine Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), through Engineer Nolan Evangelista, aftershocks are just ordinary incidents after a major earth movement.

Evangelista also shared that the most noticeable aftershocks reached intensity 3 that was recorded at around 6:10 p.m. yesterday and another one at 7:32 p.m., which reached intensity 2.

“There have been numerous Read more…

Categories: Uncategorized Tags: ,

Haiti, Dominican Republic May Be Entering Big Earthquake Period

February 2, 2012 Comments off

insurancejournal.com

Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic could be in for a period of periodic powerful earthquakes, according to a recent scientific study.

The study says Haiti’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake two years ago is likely to be the first of several quakes of a similarly powerful magnitude.

The Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake caused widespread damage in the Haitian capital and surrounding cities. Officials say the disaster killed 314,000 people and toppled thousands of crudely built homes.

“The 2010 Haiti earthquake may mark the beginning of a new cycle of large earthquakes on the Enriquillo fault system after 240 years of seismic quiescence,” lead author William Bakun of the U.S. Geological Survey wrote. “The entire Enriquillo fault system appears to be Read more…

Categories: Dominican Republic, Earthquake, Haiti Tags: , , , , ,

2/2/2012 — 6.9 magnitude earthquake north of New Zealand — Vanutau

February 2, 2012 3 comments
Categories: Earthquake Tags: , , , ,