Earthquakes
2014-09-25 17:51:17 UTC
2014-09-25 09:51:17 UTC-08:00 at epicenter
Location
61.965°N 151.794°W depth=101.7km (63.2mi)
Nearby Cities
95km (59mi) WNW of Willow, Alaska
126km (78mi) WNW of Knik-Fairview, Alaska
130km (81mi) NW of Anchorage, Alaska
378km (235mi) SSW of College, Alaska
904km (562mi) WNW of Whitehorse, Canada
Scientific Data
The damage spawned the worst crisis at a nuclear power plant since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, and prompted Japan to shut down most of its nuclear power plants. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has been working to contain radioactive materials in the years since. TEPCO said there were no new abnormalities caused by Wednesday's quakes, nor any changes to radioactivity levels at the monitoring post there, according to public broadcaster NHK. The company said there were no reported abnormalities at its Tokai Daini nuclear power plant, farther south along the coast of Ibaraki Prefecture. The plant has been shut down since 2011.
2014-09-25 09:13:50 UTC
2014-09-25 19:13:50 UTC+10:00 at epicenter
Location
9.480°S 156.391°E depth=10.0km (6.2mi)
Nearby Cities
160km (99mi) SSW of Gizo, Solomon Islands
373km (232mi) SSE of Arawa, Papua New Guinea
390km (242mi) W of Honiara, Solomon Islands
661km (411mi) E of Alotau, Papua New Guinea
727km (452mi) SE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea
Scientific Data
014-09-24 11:16:12 UTC
2014-09-24 08:16:12 UTC-03:00 at epicenter
Location
23.854°S 66.553°W depth=189.3km (117.6mi)
Nearby Cities
46km (29mi) NNW of San Antonio de los Cobres, Argentina
133km (83mi) WNW of San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina
142km (88mi) WSW of Humahuaca, Argentina
143km (89mi) WNW of Palpala, Argentina
831km (516mi) SSE of La Paz, Bolivia
Scientific data

This graph shows the moment of impact in Hassela, which is 13 kilometres from the earthquake's epicentre.
The quake hit in the afternoon between the towns of Mora and Sveg.
"There was a bloody great bang, it was like a bomb," Åke Hedman near Ljusdal told the Aftonbladet newspaper. "It was as if there was a lightning bolt directly above me - only ten times worse," the 57-year-old added.
Björn Lund, a seismologist at Uppsala University, said the earthquake is the strongest Sweden has seen since 1904 when an area by the Koster islands was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the scale.
The earthquake, which hit at about 4:30 p.m. ChST, was measured at 7.1 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey.
It hit about 21 miles northwest of Piti village, 22 miles northwest of Hagatna, 24 miles northwest of Tamuning-Turnon-Harmon Village, 25 miles west-northwest of Dededo Village, and 26 miles northwest of Mangilao Village.
It hit at a depth of 106.9 miles.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which is run by the National Weather Center, issued an alert right after the quake hit. "A destructive tsunami was not generated because this earthquake is located too deep inside the earth," it said.
On the other hand, the U.S. Geological Survey said that people should expect aftershocks. "These secondary shockwaves are usually less violent than the main quake but can be strong enough to do additional damage to weakened structures and can occur in the first hours, days, weeks, or even months after the quake," it said.
2014-09-17 06:14:46 UTC
2014-09-17 16:14:46 UTC+10:00 at epicenter
Location
13.740°N 144.394°E depth=133.9km (83.2mi)
Nearby Cities
44km (27mi) NW of Piti Village, Guam
50km (31mi) NW of Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon Village, Guam
54km (34mi) WNW of Dededo Village, Guam
54km (34mi) NW of Mangilao Village, Guam
48km (30mi) NW of Hagatna, Guam
Scientific data
Their findings, reported in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, are based on a new way of calculating the probability of an earthquake.
The new research comes in the wake of the 2004 magnitude 9.3 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake which killed over 230,000 people across the Indian Ocean, and the 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake which devastated Japan, claiming almost 19,000 lives.
"The strength of both these earthquakes caught many scientists by surprise," says the study's lead author Dr Yufang Rong, a seismologist with insurer FM Global.
"Almost all past methodologies failed to predict the strength of these earthquakes, so we looked at the problem again."
Existing methods of assessing earthquake risk are based on calculating how often earthquakes of a given magnitude happen along a particular fault line.
All these models are however tied to the limited histories available through earthquake records.
Back in 2010, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which melted through 200 metres of glacier, sent more than 200 million cubic metres of fine ash billowing almost 10 kilometres into the sky. As a result, several European countries were forced to ground or re-route thousands of flights for several days.
One interesting way that rocks weather and crumble apart is called "exfoliation." Like the skin-scrubbing technique, this involves the outermost layers of exposed igneous or metamorphic bedrock sloughing off in a sheet. Over time, this tends to smooth and round the outcrop - Yosemite's Half Dome providing a spectacular example.













Comment: There has been a lot of seismic activity lately. See the following Sott Worldview map of recorded earthquakes in the past month alone: