Welcome to Sott.net
Wed, 29 Sep 2021
The World for People who Think

Earthquakes

Seismograph

Shallow earthquake of 4.8 on Richter scale hits Greece; felt in southern Bulgaria


The Sofia Globe
Thu, 10 Nov 2016 21:33 UTC
Graph
An earthquake of 4.8 on the Richter scale epicentred in northern Greece on November 10, was felt in south-western Bulgaria, local media reports said.

The earthquake was at 12.12pm UTC, or 2.17pm Sofia time, and had a depth of 10km, according to provisional data from the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) and US Geological Survey.

EMSC said that the epicentre was nine km west of the village of Kristóni, which put it about 190km south-west of Sofia and 160km south-east of Macedonian capital Skopje.

According to Bulgarian private broadcaster Darik Radio, the earthquake was felt in the town of Blagoevgrad, in south-western Bulgaria (about 120km away from the epicentre), and the top stories of higher buildings in Sofia and Plovdiv. There were no reports of any damages in Bulgaria.
      Read More...
Seismograph

Shallow 5.9-magnitude earthquake strikes off Chile coast


Hindustan Times
Tue, 08 Nov 2016 13:35 UTC
Earthquake graph
A 5.9-magnitude quake struck in the Pacific off the coast of Chile early Tuesday, the US Geological Survey reported.

The quake hit at about 0500 GMT, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of the city of Concepcion and at a depth of 17 kilometers, the agency said.

There was no immediate word on damage or injuries.

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries.

It sits on the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire," a seismically turbulent region where many of Earth's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

In 2010, an 8.8-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 500 people.

Source: AFP
      Read More...
Seismograph

Strong shallow 5.0 magnitude earthquake rocks Taranaki, New Zealand

TOM HUNT, MICHAEL DALY AND CATHERINE GROENESTEIN
Stuff.co.nz
Mon, 07 Nov 2016 20:03 UTC
Opunake earthquake, NZ
© GEONET
More than 2000 people had reported feeling the 5.0 quake in Opunake by 6.30am.
A seismologist says another quake of the same size can't be ruled out, after a strong 5.0 tremor struck the Taranaki town of Opunake this morning.

The quake, which hit at 5.59am on Tuesday, 10km north of the town at a depth of 14km had been felt widely throughout the lower North Island.

Geonet initially classified the quake as a "severe" 5.2 magnitude, before revising it down to 5.

Aftershocks could be expected in region after the quake, Geonet duty seismologist Dr Anna Kaiser said.

"The most likely scenario is smaller aftershocks over the coming days, but we can't rule out there will be another one the same size."

It was not unusual activity for the area, she said.

"We saw a similar size in 2015 and others in the high fours in 2013."

The earthquake is a good reminder for people, she said.

"Hopefully people will be prepared and have their emergency kits and plans in place."

More than 2000 people had reported feeling the quake by 6.30am.
      Read More...
Attention

5.0 shallow quake shakes central Oklahoma, damages buildings


RT
Mon, 07 Nov 2016 03:13 UTC
Earthquake map of Oklahoma
© earthquake.usgs.gov
Citizens of Oklahoma and neighboring states felt a strong tremor on Sunday evening as a 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck some 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Oklahoma City. The nearby town of Cushing reportedly experienced structural damage and power cuts.

The quake struck some 2km west of Cushing at a depth of just 5km, US Geological Survey reported, revising the magnitude from 5.3 to 5.0.

Despite being a moderate tremor on the Richter scale, the shallow quake resulted in several buildings partly collapsing, also causing a power outage.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Mount St Helens is getting weirder

Maddie Stone
Gizmodo
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 02:17 UTC
Mt. Saint Helens
© Wikimedia Commons
A plume of steam and ash billowing out of Mt. Saint Helens in 1982, two years after the most destructive eruption in US history.
Picture a volcanic eruption: fiery lava and smoke billowing skyward as a towering mountain empties its over-pressurized belly of a hot meal. At least, that's how most of us think it works. So you can imagine volcanologists' surprise when they discovered that Mount St. Helens, which was responsible for the deadliest eruption in US history, is actually cold inside.

Apparently, it's stealing its fire from somewhere else.

Mount St. Helens is one of the most active volcanoes of the Cascade Arc, a string of eruptive mountains that runs parallel to the Cascadia subduction zone from northern California to British Columbia. It's also one of the strangest. Most major volcanoes of the Cascade Arc sit neatly along a north-south line, where the wedging of the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate beneath the North American plate forces hot mantle material to rise. Mount St. Helens, however, lies to the west, in a geologically quiescent region called the forearc wedge.

"We don't have a good explanation for why that's the case," said Steve Hansen, a geoscientist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Seeking answers, Hansen recently led a seismic mapping survey of Mount St. Helens. In the summer of 2014, his team deployed thousands of sensors to measure motion in the ground around the volcano. Then, they drilled nearly two dozen holes, packed the holes full of explosives, triggered a handful of minor quakes, and watched as seismic waves bounced around beneath the mountain. "We're looking at what seismic energy propagates off in the subsurface," Hansen explained. "It's a bit like a CAT scan."
      Read More...
Seismograph

Shallow magnitude 5.3 earthquake strikes off Davao Occidental, Philippines


ABS-CBN News
Fri, 04 Nov 2016 17:20 UTC
Earthquake graph
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck off Davao Occidental before midnight on Thursday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

The quake's epicenter was located 63 kilometers southeast of Don Marcelino, Davao Occidental. The quake struck at 11:21 p.m.

The quake, which was tectonic in origin, struck at a depth of 10 kilometers.

The quake is not expected to cause serious damage to properties. No aftershocks are likewise expected.

Earthquake epicentre
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

6.4 magnitude earthquake rattles Chile


RT
Fri, 04 Nov 2016 17:01 UTC
Santiago Earthquake
© USGS
A 6.4 magnitude quake rattled Chile with an epicenter located close to its border with Argentina on Friday, according to earthquake monitors. Witnesses told Reuters that buildings were shaking in the city during the event.

The quake was a "major" event centered in the capital and central Chile, the country's emergency office Onemi is cited by Reuters as saying.

However, Chile's navy said the earthquake doesn't meet the criteria to pose a tsunami threat.

The epicenter of the 6.4 magnitude quake was located 175 kilometers south of Santiago at a depth of 80 kilometers, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 6.3, reporting that it hit 41 miles from Santiago at a depth of 116 kilometers.
      Read More...
Hardhat

Recent Oklahoma earthquakes may finally induce regulators to restrict fracking


RT
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 23:56 UTC
earthquake oklahoma Sept 2016
A 4.5 magnitude earthquake that struck northern Oklahoma may have shaken some sense into lawmakers considering increasing restrictions on some oil and gas activity in the state.

Oklahoma's recent increase in earthquakes has some lawmakers concerned about the possible connection to oil and gas production and the subsequent disposal of underground wastewater. While there was no reported damage from Tuesday's 4.5 magnitude earthquake, a 5.6 earthquake in September set a record for the state and has some residents calling for change.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission plans a response to Tuesday's earthquake while some state regulators are considering placing new restrictions on oil and gas activity, the Associated Press reported.

However, the Pawnee Nation is not holding its breath for regulators to solve the earthquake problem. In late October, the Pawnee Nation announced its plans to take energy companies New Dominion, Sandridge Exploration and Production, Chesapeake Operating and Devon Energy Production Company to court, the Stillwater News Press reported.

Comment: See:

      Read More...
Seismograph

3.8 magnitude earthquake hits off Oregon coast

Joe English
KATU
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 19:31 UTC
Quake map Astoria, Oregon
© USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake, potentially 3.8 in magnitude, near Warrenton and Astoria on Nov. 2, 2016. The epicenter was measured about 10 miles from Astoria, according to the survey’s Twitter feed. It shook the ground around 7:52 a.m. at more than 21 miles deep into the ocean floor, according to the survey’s website.
The USGS has confirmed a 3.8 magnitude earthquake off the Oregon coast just before 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Callers told NATU News the quake rattled their homes, shaking items hanging or on shelves and moving things around. Twitter users reported feeling the quake for a radius extending several miles.

According to the USGS mapping tool, the 7:52 a.m. quake was centered near the coast about 10 miles west of Astoria at a depth of around 21 miles.

The USGS intensity map indicates the quake, naturally, was much stronger near its center by the coast, and its effect weakened in areas farther inland.

The quake was not a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, and instead an isolated event on one of the numerous other faults in Oregon and Washington, USGS officials said.

They added that earthquakes must be magnitude 7.0 or above to create a tsunami.

Comment: The really big one: The next full Cascadia rupture will spell the worst natural disaster in North American history

      Read More...
Hardhat

Oil production may have caused several of California's major earthquakes in early 20th century

Annie Sneed
Scientific American
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
1933 earthquake los angeles, oil production earthquakes
Southern California suffered a number of big earthquakes in the early 1900s, a pattern that prompted experts to declare the state an earthquake hazard. But new work shows some of the biggest temblors might have been caused by oil and gas production, not nature. The finding could ultimately change scientists' predictions for earthquakes in the Los Angeles Basin, and how well they understand man-made, or "induced," earthquakes around the country.

It is challenging enough for scientists to determine whether a modern-day quake is natural or induced, and even more so for one that occurred a hundred years ago. The tools they now use to measure earthquakes were not as sophisticated back then, and historic records are limited. So researchers Susan Hough and Morgan Page at the U.S. Geological Survey relied on a combination of old scientific surveys, crude instrumental data and newspaper accounts to piece together details of quakes in the early 20th century. "It's not as precise as having seismic data, but that doesn't mean it's hopeless," Hough says.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts