Earthquakes
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Attention

Magnitude 5.6 earthquake recorded near Kiska Volcano, Alaska


Island Crisis News
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 21:17 UTC
Alaska 5.6 earthquake
An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 5.6 has been recorded near Kiska Volcano, Alaska on 11 April 2016 20:10:35. The earthquake epicenter was located at precisely 109km SW of Kiska Volcano, Alaska and at a depth of approximately 28 km. A provisional tsunami alert have been issued for the region following this earthquake. Other details about the earthquake were not immediately available, and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. We will update this report as soon as we have more information.

Below is a map showing the location of the earthquake and additional information pertaining to the exact location of the epicenter.
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Bizarro Earth

Massive 2015 Alaskan landslide triggering mega-tsunami estimated to be biggest non-volcanic landslide in North American history


The Watchers
Sun, 10 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
landslide tyndall glacier
After a period of heavy rains, about 200 million metric tons of rock tumbled down a remote Southeast Alaska mountain. The massive landslide, lasting about 60 seconds, occurred on October 17, 2015, and landed on the toe of Tyndall Glacier and into Taan Fiord in Icy Bay, Alaska.

The event generated a local megatsunami that sheared trees more than 152.4 meters (500 feet) up on a peninsula within the fiord. It was big enough to register at the nearest tidal gauge 155 km (96.3 miles) away. For comparison, the 2011 tsunami in Japan reached about 39.6 meters (130 feet) above sea level.

This event, now estimated as the biggest nonvolcanic landslide, by volume, in North America's written history, was registered by special seismograms monitored by the Global CMT Project at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory whose seismologists Göran Ekström and Colin Stark have invented a new technique that uses seismic waves to detect landslides in remote areas where they might otherwise go unrecorded.
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Attention

Magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes Afghanistan: Strong tremors felt in India and Pakistan capitals

Adam Withnall
The Independent (UK)
Sun, 10 Apr 2016 13:04 UTC
Earthquake map
A powerful earthquake has struck the border area between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, with tremors felt in Delhi and Islamabad.

The quake was intially measured at magnitude-6.6 and depth 210km by the USGS, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Reports from across South Asia described buildings swaying for more than a minute with tremors felt in the Pakistani city of Lahore some 630km from the epicentre.

Pakistani official Arif Ullah said the magnitude-7.1 quake was centered near Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan. Germany's GFZ Research Center for Geosciences set the quake's magnitude at 6.5.
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Question

Reports of mysterious tremors in eastern North Carolina attributed to sonic booms from military activity


WECT 6
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 18:42 UTC
sonic boom wave map north carolina
© WECTWhat appears to be a sonic boom wave caught on radar.
Did you feel a bit of a shake Friday afternoon? You're not alone.

WECT received several emails and messages on social media about a possible tremor in the Myrtle Grove area, as well as in Leland.

However, the United States Geological Survey's website showed no earthquake activity in North Carolina.

Our First Alert meteorologists did manage to see what appears to be remnants of a sonic boom wave on radar just off the coast of the Cape Fear region.
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Info

Movement of water around the world contributes to Earth's rotational wobbles says NASA

Alan Buis
GRACE JPL
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 20:22 UTC
Earth's Spin Axis
© NASA/JPL-CaltechEarth does not always spin on an axis running through its poles. Instead, it wobbles irregularly over time, drifting toward North America throughout most of the 20th Century (green arrow). That direction has changed drastically due to changes in water mass on Earth.
Using satellite data on how water moves around Earth, NASA scientists have solved two mysteries about wobbles in the planet's rotation -- one new and one more than a century old. The research may help improve our knowledge of past and future climate.

Although a desktop globe always spins smoothly around the axis running through its north and south poles, a real planet wobbles. Earth's spin axis drifts slowly around the poles; the farthest away it has wobbled since observations began is 37 feet (12 meters). These wobbles don't affect our daily life, but they must be taken into account to get accurate results from GPS, Earth-observing satellites and observatories on the ground.

In a paper published today in Science Advances, Surendra Adhikari and Erik Ivins of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, researched how the movement of water around the world contributes to Earth's rotational wobbles. Earlier studies have pinpointed many connections between processes on Earth's surface or interior and our planet's wandering ways. For example, Earth's mantle is still readjusting to the loss of ice on North America after the last ice age, and the reduced mass beneath that continent pulls the spin axis toward Canada at the rate of a few inches each year. But some motions are still puzzling.
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Attention

Earthquake strikes major volcano in Iceland

Alëx Elliott
Iceland Review
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 18:29 UTC
Bárðarbunga
© Rax / Ragnar AxelssonBárðarbunga volcano
There was a major earthquake on the northern edge of the Bárðarbunga volcanic craters at around midnight last night.

The quake measured 4.2 on the Richter scale and is therefore the largest quake to have hit the famous volcano since it stopped erupting in February last year.

According to Bjarki Fries, a natural disasters specialist with the Icelandic met office, the earthquake emanated from 3.5 kilometers underground. Around 15 aftershocks have already been measured, the most powerful of which was a 3.5 quake at 01.00 this morning.

Met office earthquakes specialist Martin Hensch told RÚV that there is no evidence of lava movements or of any eruption activity connected to the earthquakes, but that the situation will be monitored carefully. There were two quakes in the same location on April 3, measuring 3.4 and 3 on the Richter scale.

The recent eruption at Bárðarbunga, often known as Holuhraun, lasted from late August 2014 to late February 2015, and despite not affecting aviation or physically threatening any human settlements, it caused dangerous levels of pollution around Iceland and produced more new lava than almost any other eruption in Iceland since the Vikings first arrived.
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Alarm Clock

Magnitude 6.7 earthquake strikes Vanuatu; THIRD large quake in region this week


Radio New Zealand
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 04:59 UTC
6.7 Vanuatu earthquake
© US Geological ServiceThe epicentre of Thursday's 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Vanuatu's Torba province.
An earthquake measuring 6.7 has struck the northwest of Vanuatu, the third large earthquake in the same region this week.

The United States Geological Service said the earthquake struck 109km west of Sola, in Torba province, at a depth of 33km.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said the quake posed no tsunami threat.

Thursday afternoon's quake came less than 24 hours after another 6.9 magnitude struck slightly to the west in Santo at a depth of 10km.

Another quake of the same magnitude struck the area on Sunday.
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Alarm Clock

Swarm of small earthquakes hit northwestern Arizona

Christopher Silavong
AZCentral
Tue, 05 Apr 2016 22:01 UTC
Arizona earthquake swarm
© ABC15/KNXV (screen capture)
A series of small earthquakes swarmed the state's northwest corner after an initial magnitude 2.3 earthquake on the Arizona strip March 29, officials said Tuesday.

The earthquake that struck near Littlefield, Ariz., a community about 20 miles southwest of St. George, Utah, was the first of 18 small-magnitude tremors that lasted through Sunday, according to the Arizona Geological Survey.

The largest event was a 2.6 magnitude quake at about 8:36 a.m. Sunday. The Arizona Geological Survey has not reported any injuries or damage from the series of tremors.

While the amount of quakes to hit the area may seem unusual, Geological Survey researcher Michael Conway said the state has seen swarms before.

Conway said the area is "tectonically active," but this was the first time a swarm has been recorded in the northwest corner of the state, bordering Utah and Nevada.

"Active faults in the vicinity of the earthquake swarm include the Mesquite/Overton Arm," according to an Arizona Geological Survey statement. The area has extensive earthquake history.
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Attention

Strong earthquake hits Indian ocean, south of Bandung, Indonesia


BNO News
Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:57 UTC
Indonesia earthquake
© USGS8.198 °S 107.419 °E depth=35.4 km (22.0 mi)
The earthquake, which struck at 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, was centered 152 kilometers southwest of Tasikmalaya, or 163 kilometers south of Bandung. It struck about 10 kilometers deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to BMKG, which is Indonesia's seismological agency.

BMKG, which measured the earthquake at a preliminary 6.1, said there was no tsunami threat as a result of the tremor. The earthquake was felt throughout parts of Java Island but there was no immediate word on whether it had caused any damage or casualties.

Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. In December 2004, a magnitude-9.1 tremor, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, struck off the west coast of Sumatra, unleashing a massive tsunami that struck scores of countries in the region and killed at least 227,898 people.
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Attention

Magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes northwest of Vanuatu


stuff.co.nz
Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:08 UTC
The earthquake struck 109km west-south-west of Sola, Vanuatu, USGS said.
© USGSThe earthquake struck 109km west-south-west of Sola, Vanuatu, USGS said.
An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 has struck near the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says.

The earthquake struck 109km west-south-west of Sola, Vanuatu, at 6.58pm (NZT) at a depth of 33.7 km, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue a Pacific-wide tsunami warning.

"Based on all available data a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected," the centre said.

A similarly-sized quake struck the same area on Sunday without causing any damage.

Source: Reuters
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