Earthquakes
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USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - Balleny Islands Region

Balleny Quake_091012
© USGS
Event Time
2012-10-09 12:32:04 UTC
2012-10-09 22:32:04 UTC+10:00 at epicenter

Location
61.033°S 153.960°E depth=10.2km (6.4mi)

Nearby Cities
729km (453mi) NW of Young Island
1876km (1166mi) SSW of Invercargill, New Zealand
1925km (1196mi) SSW of Gore, New Zealand
2000km (1243mi) SSW of Dunedin, New Zealand
2068km (1285mi) S of Hobart, Australia

Technical Details

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - 83km SW of Topolobampo, Mexico

Image
© USGS
Event Time
2012-10-07 23:26:22 UTC-07:00 at epicenter
2012-10-07 23:26:22 UTC-07:00 system time

Location

25.125°N 109.698°W depth=9.9km (6.1mi)

Nearby Cities
83km (52mi) SW of Topolobampo, Mexico
101km (63mi) SSW of Ahome, Mexico
102km (63mi) SW of Los Mochis, Mexico
111km (69mi) SW of General Juan Jose Rios, Mexico
950km (590mi) SSE of Phoenix, Arizona

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.3 - 112km SSE of Saparua, Indonesia

Image
© USGS
Event Time
2012-10-08 20:43:35 UTC+09:00 at epicenter
2012-10-08 04:43:35 UTC-07:00 system time

Location

4.442°S 129.165°E depth=34.7km (21.6mi)

Nearby Cities
112km (70mi) SSE of Saparua, Indonesia
125km (78mi) SSE of Amahai, Indonesia
136km (85mi) SE of Ambon, Indonesia
419km (260mi) WNW of Tual, Indonesia
604km (375mi) NE of Dili, East Timor

Question

Mysterious tremors raise questions

Louisiana - Nobody quite knows what caused the ground in some parts of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes to shake, but it certainly has people talking.

A little before 2 p.m. Wednesday, reports began flooding in to officials of tremors accompanied by a loud noise. The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office and Office of Emergency Preparedness received reports, but nobody has been able to narrow down a cause.

Lockport resident Bryan Comardelle had just sat down to watch television when he felt the rumble.

"It was just a sudden vibration," Comardelle said. "I live in a brick house, and it even made it shake."

Most reports are fairly uniform: one to four tremors reported in the southern reaches of the parishes all the way up into Raceland and Houma. Some people reported hearing a loud noise similar to thunder accompanying the rumbling.

"My wife described it as sounding like a garbage truck had just dropped a dumpster," Comardelle said.

After the first rumble, Comardelle joined his perplexed neighbors outside looking for the rumbling culprit or any sign of bad weather that could have caused the thunderous noise.

"It was clear outside, and then we felt more tremors," Comardelle said.

Bizarro Earth

Earthquakes rattle residents across North Texas

Image
Irving - The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 3.4 magnitude earthquake centered near Irving at 11:05 p.m. Saturday.

Four minutes later, there was a magnitude 3.1 quake in West Dallas. Both were estimated at a depth of 3.1 miles.

News 8 has been receiving calls and Facebook postings from people who felt the earth moving in Richardson, Garland, Coppell, Dallas, Grapevine, and other locations in North Texas.

The epicenter of the initial quake was located near MacArthur Boulevard and Rochelle Road near Farine Elementary School, according to coordinates provided by the USGS.

The second tremor was centered near the intersection of Loop 12 and Interstate 30, about six miles southeast of the first earthquake.

Irving's emergency operators were flooded with more than 400 calls after the initial quake as people reported such minor damage as cracks in some walls and a ceiling, pictures knocked down and a report of a possible gas leak, according to an emergency official, Pat McMacken. City officials said they were still following up on the various reports early Sunday.

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2 - 96km ENE of Miyako, Japan

Miyako Quake_011012
© USGS
Event Time
2012-10-01 22:21:45 UTC
2012-10-02 08:21:45 UTC+10:00 at epicenter

Location
39.853°N 143.047°E depth=9.7km (6.0mi)

Nearby Cities
96km (60mi) ENE of Miyako, Japan
103km (64mi) ENE of Yamada, Japan
112km (70mi) ENE of Otsuchi, Japan
119km (74mi) ENE of Kamaishi, Japan
548km (341mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan

Technical Details

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 7.3 - 10km WNW of Isnos, Colombia

Image
© USGS
Event Time:

2012-09-30 16:31:35 UTC
2012-09-30 11:31:35 UTC-05:00 at epicenter
2012-09-30 09:31:35 UTC-07:00 system time

Location:

1.972°N 76.329°W depth=162.1km (100.7mi)

Nearby Cities:

10km (6mi) WNW of Isnos, Colombia
34km (21mi) WNW of Pitalito, Colombia
60km (37mi) SSE of Popayan, Colombia
67km (42mi) SW of La Plata, Colombia
344km (214mi) NE of Quito, Ecuador

Radar

Huge Earthquake Triggered Other Quakes Worldwide

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© LiveScience.com/Fred Pollitz, USGS A map of the earthquakes triggered around the globe (shown as black dots) within a week of the April 11, 2012 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra
On April 11, a massive magnitude 8.6 earthquake shook the floor of the Indian Ocean off Sumatra. It wasn't just unusual because of its size - the 10th largest quake in the last century - it also set off a series of quakes around the world for up to six days afterward, according to a study published today (Sept. 26) in the journal Nature.

"Until now, we seismologists have always said, 'Don't worry about distant earthquakes triggering local quakes,'" said Roland Burgmann, an earth and planetary scientist at UC Berkeley, in a statement. "This study now says that, while it is very rare - it may only happen every few decades - it is a real possibility if the right kind of earthquake happens."

The study found that some quakes were triggered within a few hours, while in other places the seismic waves from the Sumatran quake primed temblors to happen for up to six days later.

The findings should remind those living in seismically active areas that the risk from a large earthquake could persist, even on the opposite side of the globe, for more than a few hours, the study scientists said.

Another study also published today suggests that the quake marks the birth of a new tectonic plate beneath the Indian Ocean.

Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.9 - 33km S of Tanaga Volcano, Alaska

Image
© USGS
Event Time:

2012-09-26 23:39:58 UTC
2012-09-26 14:39:58 UTC-09:00 at epicenter
2012-09-26 16:39:58 UTC-07:00 system time

Location:

51.583°N 178.200°W depth=40.5km (25.2mi)

Nearby Cities:

33km (21mi) S of Tanaga Volcano, Alaska
1487km (924mi) SSE of Anadyr', Russia
1580km (982mi) E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
1597km (992mi) E of Yelizovo, Russia
2806km (1744mi) W of Whitehorse, Canada

Bizarro Earth

Weird 2012 Quake Signals Tectonic Plate Birth

Sumatra Earthquake
© OurAmazingPlanetThe earthquake that struck Sumatra was a big one. Here's how it compares to some record holders.
On the afternoon of April 11, 2012, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded - and now revealed to be among the weirdest - struck in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sumatra. It's a region all too familiar with geological catastrophe.

Eight years earlier, in December 2004, the third largest earthquake on record had ripped through a nearby region of the ocean floor. The magnitude-9.1 earthquake and the monstrous tsunami that soon followed killed more than 227,000 people in 14 countries,

So when a magnitude-8.7 earthquake (some put the magnitude at 8.6) shook the Indonesian island on that Wednesday afternoon earlier this year, many expected the worst. Yet, no monster wave appeared. A wave did come ashore, but it was a miniature tsunami, just 12 inches (31 centimeters) high.

All told, the earthquake did very little damage - yet only five higher earthquake magnitudes have ever been recorded. So what was the deal?

New research published today (Sept. 26) in the journal Nature delves into the intimate details of this earthquake, along with the powerful, magnitude-8.2 quake that followed two hours later. The new studies add to an existing body of research that shows this was a remarkable event - one of the most surprising earthquakes ever recorded - and one that offers an unlikely snapshot of a geological process millions of years in the making.