USGS page: M 6.5 - Western Indian-Antarctic Ridge
USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist
Reports from the public: 0 people
6.5 magnitude, 10 km depth
Western Indian Antarctic Ridge
Earthquakes
USGS page: M 6.5 - Western Indian-Antarctic Ridge
USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist
Reports from the public: 0 people
6.5 magnitude, 10 km depth
Western Indian Antarctic Ridge
© REUTERS
A major road in the centre of Taipei is seen damaged after an earthquake in Taipei, Taiwan on April 18, 2019.
A major road in the centre of Taipei is seen damaged after an earthquake in Taipei, Taiwan on April 18, 2019.
Local television footage showed school children being evacuated from buildings, while a weather bureau official said it was the largest quake to hit the island so far this year.
The quake struck at 1.01pm local time, and at a depth of 18km, the Central Weather Bureau said, adding that the quake measured at 4.0-magnitude in the Taipei area.
© USGS
The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 17km off the east coast of Sulawesi island.
The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 17km off the east coast of Sulawesi island.
The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 17km off the east coast of Sulawesi island, the USGS said, where a 7.5-magnitude quake-tsunami around the city of Palu killed more than 4,300 people last year.
Indonesia's disaster agency issued a tsunami warning for coastal communities in Morowali district, where residents were advised to move away from the coast.
© MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images
The re-establishment of species diversity following an extinction event is consistently slower than evolutionary theory predicts.
The re-establishment of species diversity following an extinction event is consistently slower than evolutionary theory predicts.
Yet, the paleontological record suggests that this doesn't happen at anywhere near the expected pace. Now, research published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution argues that understanding something called "morphospace" might help us find the cause.
Extinction events happen with alarming regularity: there's the "big five", but a host of slightly smaller, yet still devastating extinctions have peppered the planet's history.
Scientists now worry that we might be in the middle of one of our own making, so this makes it all the more important to understand how the natural world bounces back from such catastrophes.
Perhaps the most well-known of the earth's mass extinctions is the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. This took place 66 million years ago when an asteroid smacked into the earth next to what is now the Yucatán Peninsula, creating the nearly 200-kilometre-wide depression known as the Chicxulub crater. This impact drove the extinction of all the non-avian dinosaurs, and much else besides.
© USGS
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which struck 174 km (108 miles) east of the city of Hachinohe, at a depth of 27 km (17 miles), the USGS added.
© Shutterstock
The San Andreas Fault runs through the Carrizo Plain in California.
The San Andreas Fault runs through the Carrizo Plain in California.
The state is experiencing a century-long lull in large, ground-rupturing earthquakes, temblors that actually offset the earth at the surface. The 7.9-magnitude Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 was a ground-rupturing quake; photographs taken in its aftermath show roads and fences with new bends and twists.
Now, new research finds that this 100-year earthquake gap is very unlikely to be a statistical fluke. Instead, something geological is probably causing the peaceful period.
"We're unusually quiet," said study co-author Glenn Biasi, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Pasadena, California. "The biggest faults and the faults carrying most of the slip have not ponied up."
© Google Earth/ GNS Science
The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake was a magnitude 7.8 (Mw) earthquake in the South Island of New Zealand that occurred two minutes after midnight on 14 November 2016 NZDT (11:02 on 13 November UTC).
The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake was a magnitude 7.8 (Mw) earthquake in the South Island of New Zealand that occurred two minutes after midnight on 14 November 2016 NZDT (11:02 on 13 November UTC).
This slow-slip began last week and so far scientists have recorded "up to 3cm of eastward displacement," said Wallace.
"This is caused by up to 10-15cm of movement on the Hikurangi plate boundary offshore of Gisborne."
While these events are fairly common, happening every one or two years, this slow-slip is on track to be "as large at the previous slow-slip" recorded off Gisborne in 2010.
Since Monday, 85 quakes have been recorded in the area.
The epicenter was initially located at 6.8491 degrees south latitude and 125.0425 degrees east longitude.
Meanwhile, the tremor hit 538.48 km deep into the ground.
The epicenter, with a depth of 61.0 km, was initially determined to be at 55.5 degrees south latitude and 27.7 degrees west longitude.
Source: Xinhua
© USGS
All 12 major quakes in March were recorded around the Pacific ring of fire, see map above.
So far, 2019 has recorded 33 major quakes with the biggest being a Mag 7.5 - 117km ESE of Palora, Ecuador in February, see the video below.
30 of the 33 major quakes recorded this year happened along the Pacific ring of fire.
Comment: Activity around the ring of fire has seen an uptick recently: A total of 12 major quakes, (Mag 6 or higher) occurred in March with all 12 recorded around the Pacific ring of fire
Also check out SOTT's monthly documentary: Earth Changes Summary - March 2019: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs