Flashback: Rock 'n Roll! Earthquake Swarm in the Virgin Islands earthboppin.net 3 Mar 06 3.6 2006/03/03 14:36:36 19.113 -63.991 5.0 55 km ( 34 mi) NE of Settlement, British Virgin Islands 4.4 2006/03/03 13:09:31 19.060 -63.681 39.3 77 km ( 48 mi) ENE of Settlement, British Virgin Islands 3.8 2006/03/03 10:07:34 19.160 -63.900 15.5 65 km ( 40 mi) NE of Settlement, British Virgin Islands 3.8 2006/03/03 09:53:32 19.257 -63.597 21.7 96 km ( 60 mi) NE of Settlement, British Virgin Islands 3.7 2006/03/03 03:39:31 19.122 -63.931 8.3 60 km ( 37 mi) NE of Settlement, British Virgin Islands 3.8 2006/03/02 23:51:35 19.147 -63.803 5.0 71 km ( 44 mi) NE of Settlement, British Virgin Islands 3.7 2006/03/02 23:45:36 19.139 -63.791 15.1 72 km ( 45 mi) NE of Settlement, British Virgin Islands 5.3 2006/03/02 23:35:44 19.358 -63.787 24.8 89 km ( 56 mi) NE of Settlement, British Virgin Islands 3.3 2006/03/02 08:25:53 19.427 -68.082 43.7 111 km ( 69 mi) NE of Higüey, Dominican Republic 3.4 2006/03/01 12:38:24 18.855 -68.701 58.2 26 km ( 16 mi) N of Higüey, Dominican Republic 3.2 2006/03/01 06:44:57 18.084 -67.878 101.2 72 km ( 45 mi) WSW of Stella, PR 3.2 2006/03/01 01:35:28 18.135 -64.249 5.0 30 km ( 19 mi) SSW of West End, British Virgin Islands Comment: Back on February 10, a 5.2 earthquake struck in the Gulf of Mexico about 160 miles South of New Orleans. According to Elaine Meinel Supkis: This is where it is geologically pretty stable. It is also right next to the huge salt domes where much of the oil and gas is being extracted. A retired geologist, Mr. Jack M. Reed, theorized there has to be a hidden tectonic plate segment in this spot and it is not only geologically active but is responsible for triggering the New Madrid Quakes.

Flashback: 5.2 Earthquake Dead Center In Gulf Of Mexico - Precursor to a New Madrid Big One? By Elaine Meinel Supkis February 2006 A mid-sized earthquake shook the Gulf of Mexico today. This is where it is geologically pretty stable. It is also right next to the huge salt domes where much of the oil and gas is being extracted. A retired geologist, Mr. Jack M. Reed, theorized there has to be a hidden tectonic plate segment in this spot and it is not only geologically active but is responsible for triggering the New Madrid Quakes. I found this after writing my article! It is just too cool. This geologist predicted correctly! From the American Association of Petroleum Geologists: The New Madrid seismic zone in Missouri has long intrigued scientists because, according to conventional geologic theory, large earthquakes clustered in a tectonically quiet region are difficult to understand. But at least one AAPG member is challenging the crowd. New Orleans independent geologist Jack M. Reed believes the origin of the earthquakes lies beneath the Gulf of Mexico. That's not all. Reed, a retired Texaco geologist-geophysicist who has been studying the region's geology for over 40 years, says the accepted theory of a quiet geologic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico Basin is fundamentally flawed and needs to be revised. According to him, the Gulf was and is tectonically active -- and it is the likely origin for not only the New Madrid seismic activity, but also for the Middleton Place-Summerville seismic zone near Charleston, S.C. I grew up around geologists working with my dad on siting observatories. One puzzle they all liked to chew over at leisure is the riddle of the New Madrid Fault. It made no sense. Today's earthquake, no small one, was an eye-opener which is why, the minute I saw it in today's data, I jumped on it. From the good geologist: "This northeast trending earthquake zone appears to connect with the northeast trending Monroe Uplift, the LaSalle Arch and, possibly, to an active seismic zone located in and around Sabine Lake on the Texas-Louisiana border," he said. This complex of doming and seismic centers is similar to another Cretaceous age triple juncture located in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico Basin. Doming of the DeSoto Canyon High during the Jurassic to Cretaceous created this triple juncture, which includes the Cretaceous Shelf Edge, the Suwannee Strait and the West Florida Escarpment. If the New Madrid seismic zone is indeed part of a triple juncture, he continued, there should be an expression of this limb trending along a line in a northeast direction. So Reed conducted a study using data from the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center and the USGS map "Earthquakes in the Conterminous United States." He only studied earthquakes measuring at least magnitude 5, and found that while most of the earthquake centers are random with no alignment, there is a well-defined earthquake trend extending northeastward from the New Madrid seismic zone across the United States to Canada, where it joins with the St. Lawrence River seismic zone. Within the boundaries of this earthquake alignment there are: Sixty-one seismic points that have a magnitude of 5 and greater. Several large earthquakes dating to the early 1800s, all measuring over magnitude 8, all occurring within a couple of months of each other, all centered in a northeast trending line. The two 5+ earthquakes that occurred earlier this year in northern New York state and southern Indiana. "There is definitely some form of movement occurring along this trend," Reed said, "and it appears to be active today." Well, it really was active today! I bet he is happy as a lark, seeing more evidence his personal theory is correct. I hope this gets good coverage for it is a major geological "find"! Indeed. Congratulations, Mr. Reed! Take a bow. Click here for raw data. Click here for the earthquake world map. I have noticed over the last year or so, many earthquakes like to happen at 10.0 km. Whether under water or on land. It is like the earth's crust has this blanket on top that operates independent of the lower layers. Some of our nastiest quakes occur at this depth, the earth's blanket being shaken and tugged like Mother Nature is straightening out the bed. The geology where this happened is interesting because it isn't all that prone to earthquakes. Just last week, I noted there was a much gentler earthquake right in New Orleans just when tornadoes were hitting that poor city! The New Madrid Fault has been shaking a bit, lately. As if it were trembling, waiting for something. The continental shelf falls rapidly where today's quake happened and maybe the entire Mississippi valley is ready for some serious alterations. The Mid-Atlantic ridge had a 4.6 mag earthquake right next to Iceland which is the volcanic island erupting out of the northern end of the Mid-Atlantic ridge. It, too, was at the interesting depth of 10.0km. Santiago, Chile, had a 4.2 quake at pretty much the same time. I noted this morning that the earth was very quiet for the previous 24 hrs and said to myself, "There are going to be some interesting shakes today," for these quakes are tending to swarm across great distances, like the earth is shuddering still from the side effects of the big blow out last winter. The geological stability of this part of the Gulf is very important for us since we have deep drilling going on there and if the earth shifts, the various layers shift at different rates so a pipe going straight down can get displaces and cease working as a well.OCSBBS: There have been significant new discoveries (such as Great White, Trident, Chinook, St. Malo, and Cascade) in the ultra-deep waters of Walker Ridge and Alaminos Canyon. These discoveries open up a whole new geologic play with exciting potential. Industry has made great technological achievements in recent years. Examples include polyester mooring, composite risers, cell spars, and 15,000-psi subsea trees. There was a 51 percent increase in the number of producing deepwater projects over the past 2 years. Deepwater production has risen more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and over 400 million cubic feet per day (MMCFPD) each year since 1997. (Production volumes were only available through 2002 at the time of writing due to the production data lag.) Subsea gas production has increased 90 percent since December 2000. Since the start of 2000, new deepwater drilling has added over 4.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). We aren't awash in gas or oil, much of this deep water drilling simply replaces well heads that are beginning to fail. From Priweb.org: Just onshore, in south eastern Texas and southern Louisiana, the flowage of salt domes has been the predominant mechanism for creating traps for oil. Salt of Jurassic age occurs here. When it is put under immense pressure by overlying rocks, this salt, which is less dense than the rocks surrounding it, will begin to flow upward. As it does so, it displaces, folds, and faults the rocks around it. In this way, traps can be created. The Louann Salt is more than 200 million years old, and is located at great depths along the Gulf of Mexico's shoreline. In some places, however, this salt has moved due to the enormous pressure being put on it from the rocks above. This all takes us back to the beginning, namely, the great Permian age when living things began to rapidly evolve and creatures crawled out of the teeming seas and plants colonized the earth and the atmosphere filled with oxygen and it all came crashing down, as we talked about, this week. The great salt flats covered over all the rich plant and animal life, the hot seas evaporated in the various shallow seas, tons of salt built up over millions of years as the planet slowly readjusted and life forms began to slowly recolonize the previously dead regions. All that stuff is what we are pumping out today and you might say, the ghosts of these once living creatures are now looming over us all.

6.0 Magnitude Earthquake In Gulf Of Mexico By Mitch Traphagen mitch@observernews.net Sep 10, 2006, 11:24 The U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center is reporting a 6.0 magnitude earthquake has occurred in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 250 miles WSW of Anna Maria, Florida. Tremors were reportedly felt in the Tampa Bay Area and as far north as Georgia. The quake occurred at the epicenter at approximately 10:56 a.m. Sunday morning. The quake was updated from 5.8 magnitude. The following information has been released by the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center: A strong earthquake occurred about 250 miles (405 km) south-southwest of Apalachicola, Florida at 8:56 AM MDT, Sep 10, 2006 (10:56 AM EDT in Florida). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. This earthquake was felt in parts of Florida, Georgia and Alabama. No reports of damage or casualties have been received at this time. Florida is not considered a high hazard for earthquakes and occurrences are rare. Among the worst reported were near St. Augustine in 1879 which caused damage to structures. Florida is also somewhat susceptible to large earthquakes occurring elsewhere. More recently, small earthquakes were reported off Merritt Island in 1973 and in Daytona in 1975.

Earthquake shakes Israel, no injuries reported Reuters 09/09/2006 JERUSALEM - An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.4 shook Israel and the occupied West Bank on Saturday but caused no injuries, Israeli media reported. The quake's epicentre was in the Jordan Valley and was felt across Israel and the West Bank. The magnitude was initially estimated at 4.9. Minor earthquakes are not uncommon in Israel and surrounding countries.

Europe's Largest Volcano Erupting Last Updated: 09-09-06 at 2:13PM The largest volcano in Europe is erupting, and it is putting on quite a colorful display. Lava is oozing from the southeastern crater of Mount Etna. The volcano's eruption is being caused by lava explosions inside the crater. The eruption is happening about 9,300 feet above sea level, so experts said it is not a threat to people or homes in the area.

'No containment whatsoever' as B.C.'s Tatoosh fire grows Last Updated Sun, 10 Sep 2006 16:42:36 EDT CBC News Calmer winds and improved visibility on Sunday helped crews battle the Tatoosh fire that has burned 4,000 hectares near Manning Park in southern B.C. - but it's still spreading unchecked, a provincial official says. "We still have no containment whatsoever on this fire," Jeff Moore, a fire information officer with the B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range, told CBC News on Sunday. Since Thursday, the fire has grown to more than 4,000 hectares from 1,000 hectares, or 10 square kilometres. Moore said it was heading north towards Hwy. 3. An evacuation alert imposed on Tuesday remained in place for people near the provincial park, which is about 150 kilometres east of Vancouver, as well as in the Pasayten River Valley and Eastgate. However, Moore said the situation was "not alarming at this point and there is no increasing concern for those communities." On Friday, dry conditions and high winds forced the temporary withdrawal of all crews fighting the blaze. But Moore said Sunday that increased humidity on the previous day had cleared some of the smoke, allowing the crews to use infrared technology and GPS (Global Positioning System) overnight to map the fire. "I guess the good news is today there are calmer winds so far and better visibility, although there's increasing smoke volume as the day wears on," Moore said. The fire started after a lightning strike in Washington state on Aug. 22 and crossed the border over the weekend as a six-kilometre-wide wall of flame. Not likely to join Border Lake fire Firefighters had been concerned that the Tatoosh blaze would be joined by the smaller Border Lake fire, which has been burning to the northeast of Manning Park between Keremeos and Princeton. But officials said they were no longer worried that it's much of a possibility. As of Saturday, the Border Lake blaze had burned 1,700 hectares after tripling in size from Thursday. The two fires are now about five kilometres apart.

Global warming to wash away beaches, warns Spanish study Giles Tremlett in Madrid Monday September 11, 2006 The Guardian The fight for space on Spain's beaches looks set to grow fiercer over the next four decades as the sand starts to disappear under a rising sea that also threatens to flood beach-side homes, according to a Spanish environment ministry report. Spain's beaches are expected to shrink by an average of 15 metres (50ft) by 2050 as global warming causes sea levels to creep up while stronger waves and currents eat away at the coastline. Article continues In some of the worst hit resorts, unprotected beaches could vanish altogether while salt water washes into holiday homes, the authors warn. "I wouldn't buy a house in La Manga," said the report's coordinator, Professor Raúl Medina, referring to an area in the south-eastern region of Murcia popular with British holiday-home buyers. "It is a bad investment because I doubt that my children would be able to use it," he told the newspaper El País. Global warming is melting the icecaps and raising sea levels around Spain by 2.5mm a year. By 2050 that will mean a 12cm-15cm rise, with northern Spain's Atlantic coast suffering most. The Mediterranean coast, where many resorts already have to truck in sand each spring, will lose an average of around 10 metres of beach by 2050. Hotel owners in the southern Costa del Sol have already asked for permission to bring in their own sand as beaches begin to shrink. The report also recommends that sea walls be raised in some Spanish ports and that planning permits for beach-side buildings take into account the changing shape of the coastline. It also warns that some of Europe's most important wetland sites will be hit. The Albufera of Valencia and the delta of the River Ebro as well as the Dóana national park in south-west Spain - one of Europe's biggest nature reserves - will all suffer the consequences of rising water levels and higher salinity. "It will be even worse by the end of the century, when a lot of today's children will still be alive," warned the ministry's top climate change official, Arturo Gonzalo. As climate change quickened, he said, so too would the rate at which sea levels rose. "The sea level will have risen between half a metre and a metre by the end of the century, and up to 50 metres of beach will disappear in some areas." The warnings came as Spain's sweltering summer showed little sign of abating this month. Twenty cities have posted record monthly temperatures in the first week of the month, with the north-western city of Ourense recording a temperature of 41.4C (107F). Farmers in Murcia, meanwhile, gathered to pray for autumn rains to prevent a third consecutive year of drought. Some 2,000 farmers asked the Virgin of Fuensanta, Murcia's patron saint, for rain. Rainfall over the year up to September was 15% down on the average. The previous year had been 21% down, Spain's meteorology institute reported.

Firefighters fight 60 wildfires in west AP Sat Sep 9, 2006 STANLEY, Idaho - Federal officials on Friday were tracking 60 large, active fires that were burning more than 1 million acres, or more than 1,500 square miles, across the West. The states in the region with the most number of fires included Idaho, Nevada, and Montana, according to the Web site of the Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center, composed of various federal agencies that coordinate to battle wildfires. In Idaho, fires had burned more than 231,000 acres, or 360 square miles, the center reported. State officials toured fire camps to survey the damage - as well as to tell federal firefighting crews here, who are strapped for personnel, that the state is ready to provide assistance from National Guard troops who could transport both equipment and firefighters, should they be needed. Already, 49 National Guard soldiers were providing security and traffic control on fires, keeping residents, hunters and the curious out of harm's way. Gov. Jim Risch has also asked the state's colleges and universities to allow student-firefighters to stay on the firelines without penalty for not reporting for school. Fire officials in Nevada said it appeared they were winning against two of the largest wildland fires in the nation. Joe Ribar, head of the National Area Command Team in Elko, said crews had "turned the corner" overnight on a 144,237-acre, or 225 square mile, fire in northern Nevada, bringing it to 60 percent containment. He said they also may have turned the corner on a 109,711-acre, or 171 square mile, blaze. It was 25 percent contained. In southern Montana, crews set backfires to keep a massive fire from spreading. The fire, estimated at 205,000 acres, or 320 square miles, was 55 percent contained, but fire information officer Dave Daniels said the hope was aggressive backburns would speed containment. The fire, which started Aug. 22 from lightning, earlier burned 26 homes, but fire crews have prevented the loss of any additional homes, Daniels said. Authorities expect to begin allowing residents of 265 homes that were evacuated on Sunday to begin returning, but they would remain on alert in case conditions changed again. "My sense is that people in this country seem to understand the need for this," Daniels said. "You live close to nature and these things happen."