Earth ChangesS


Bell

6.4 quake hits E Indonesia

An earthquake with magnitude of 6.4 rocked eastern parts of Indonesia on Monday evening, meteorology agency said here.

The quake struck at 21:15 Jakarta time (1415 GMT) with epicenter at 52 km southeast of Melonguane in North Sulawesi and at 26 km in depth, an official of the agency said.

Two minutes later an aftershock with magnitude of 5.3 occurred with epicenter at 72 km northeast of Melonguane and at 98 km in depth, the official said.

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5.0 earthquake strikes off New Zealand coast: USGS

A moderate 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of New Zealand Sunday, geologists said, but there were no reports of casualties or damage.

The US Geological Survey said the epicentre was about 148 kilometres (92 miles) northeast of Rotorua and 223 km east of Auckland.

The quake, which struck at 5:38 am (1738 GMT Saturday) was located around 184 km below sea level.

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5.1 earthquake hits W Papua, Indonesia

A tectonic quake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale hit Southwest Monokwari, West Papua, Indonesia, on Sunday, but there was no reports of casualties and material losses.

The quake, which occurred at 4:54 a.m. local time (21:54 GMT)), had no potential to trigger a tsunami, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Bandar Lampung said.

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4.7 quake jolts Mindanao, Philippines

An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale jolted Mindanao Sunday afternoon, the United States Geological Service reported.

The quake was recorded at 03:54 p.m. local time (0754 GMT), and the epicenter was 55 km east northeast of Surigao, Mindanao, or 745 km southeast of Manila at a depth of 105.8 km, according to the report.

No casualties or damage has been reported.

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4.3 magnitude earthquake hits New Zealand North Island

An earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale struck the city of Gisborne, 60 km south-east of New Zealand's eastern North Island on Friday night.

New Zealand's Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science (GNS)reported the quake, which occurred at 11:15 p.m. Friday local time(10:15 GMT Friday), at a focal depth of 30 km, and was felt in Mahia and Gisborne.

No causalities or damages were reported.

Bell

Another Five Earthquakes Shake Sichuan Province, China

Because of the Wenchuan Earthquake last May, Sichuan Province has had frequent post-earthquake seismic activity. Following the successive five recent earthquakes on March 9, another five earthquakes were reported in the Sichuan area on March 12.

The maximum magnitude of the five earthquakes was 4.7on Richter scale and the epicenter was 10 kilometers underground in Quhe Town, Qingchuan County, according to the China Earthquake Network Center.

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4.9 earthquake north of Puerto Rico shakes island

A moderate earthquake stuck Wednesday in the Atlantic Ocean north of Puerto Rico, but there were no immediate reports of damage in the U.S. island territory.

The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 4.9, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 6.3 - Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia

Date-Time

* Monday, March 16, 2009 at 14:15:56 UTC
* Monday, March 16, 2009 at 10:15:56 PM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 3.820°N, 126.500°E

Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program

Distances 295 km (180 miles) SSE of General Santos, Mindanao, Philippines

315 km (195 miles) NE of Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia

1335 km (830 miles) SSE of MANILA, Philippines

2460 km (1520 miles) ENE of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia

Bizarro Earth

New Madrid fault system may be shutting down

New Madrid Fault
© Seth SteinThis map shows areas damaged by the Dec. 16, 1811, magnitude 7.2 earthquake. That earthquake was the first of three major temblors along the New Madrid fault in 1811 and 1812.

The New Madrid fault system does not behave as earthquake hazard models assume and may be in the process of shutting down, a new study shows. A team from Purdue and Northwestern universities analyzed the fault motion for eight years using global positioning system measurements and found that it is much less than expected given the 500- to 1,000-year repeat cycle for major earthquakes on that fault. The last large earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone were magnitude 7-7.5 events in 1811 and 1812.

Estimating an accurate earthquake threat for the area, which includes parts of Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky, is crucial for the communities potentially affected, said Eric Calais, the Purdue researcher who led the study.

"Our findings suggest the steady-state model of quasi-cyclical earthquakes that works well for faults at the boundaries of tectonic plates, such as the San Andreas fault, does not apply to the New Madrid fault," said Calais, who is a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences. "At plate boundaries, faults move at a rate that is consistent with the rate of earthquakes so that past events are a reliable guide to the future. In continents, this does not work. The past is not necessarily a key to the future, which makes estimating earthquake hazard particularly difficult."

Hourglass

Best of the Web: What was the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference really about?

The largest academic conference that has yet been devoted to the subject of climate change finished yesterday in Copenhagen. Between 2,000 and 2,500 researchers from around the world attended three days of meetings during which 600 oral presentations (together with several hundred posters on display) were delivered on topics ranging from the ethics of energy sufficiency to the role of icons in communicating climate change to the dynamics of continental ice sheets.

I attended the Conference, chaired a session, listened to several presentations, read a number of posters and talked with dozens of colleagues from around the world. The breadth of research on climate change being presented was impressive, as was the vigour and thoughtfulness of the informal discussions being conducted during coffee breaks, evening receptions and side-meetings.

What intrigued me most, however, was the final conference statement issued yesterday, a statement drafted by the conference's Scientific Writing Team. It contained six key messages and was handed to the Danish Prime Minister Mr Anders Fogh Rasmusson. The messages focused, respectively, on Climatic Trends, Social Disruption, Long-term Strategy, Equity Dimensions, Inaction is Inexcusable, and Meeting the Challenge. A fuller version of this statement will be prepared and circulated to key negotiators and politicians ahead of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in December this year - also in Copenhagen.