Earthquake Activity Thread

[MAF]

Latest from BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7696639.stm

[J07]

Quiet of late.

Reference Number: 2996979

NZDT: Sun, Nov 9 2008 4:25 pm

Magnitude: 5.0

Depth: 120 km

Details: 40 km north-west of Te Anau

Reference Number: 2996675

NZDT: Sun, Nov 9 2008 0:57 am

Magnitude: 5.4

Depth: 200 km

Details: 20 km west of Rotorua

Reference Number: 2986122

NZDT: Sun, Oct 19 2008 12:13 pm

Magnitude: 5.6

Depth: 200 km

Details: 20 km north of Rotorua

[Coast]

A powerful earthquake has struck south-western Panama, close to the border with Costa Rica, says the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The quake was reported with a magnitude of 6.2 and happened at a depth of 48.2km (30 miles), monitors said. The epicentre was close to the Pacific coast and 55km (35 miles) west of David, Panama's third-largest city and home to 125,000 people. There have been no reports of any injuries of casualties, says the USGS.

news.bbc.co.uk

[A.J]

Breaking news of a major earthquake in Indonesia...

A major earthquake has stuck south-west of Manokwari, West Papua, at 0443 on Sunday (1943 GMT) according to USGS...A tsunami alert has been issued.....

Link

[A.J]

BBC news website now updated...tsunami alert rescinded..

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

I wondered what it was that woke me at 0530 this morning, I thought it was the wind!

BBC News - Shetland earthquake

[J07]

Was awoken by one on 27th December. Turned out to have reasonable magnitude in the end. Since then, not felt anything.

Reference Number: 3021098

NZDT: Sat, Dec 27 2008 8:49 am

Magnitude: 5.1

Depth: 50 km

Details: 60 km north of Porirua

My earthquake preparedness kit (in case of The Big One) is still not very complete

Have plenty of water, a tramping stove and some gas, but a bit limited in every other department.

Seismic activity been very quiet recently (I hope that doesn't mean something...), only one 5.0 + quake in the last month.... :/

I wondered what it was that woke me at 0530 this morning, I thought it was the wind!

BBC News - Shetland earthquake

Yes, they always seem to feel like that in the morning

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

Turns out it was a Mag 3.3 quake with its epicentre 17.5km below the village of Aith, in Western Shetland.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

Full details from British Geological Survey:

BGS Shetland quake

[Mondy]

I wondered what it was that woke me at 0530 this morning, I thought it was the wind!

BBC News - Shetland earthquake

But did the Earth move for you?

[J07]

Turns out it was a Mag 3.3 quake with its epicentre 17.5km below the village of Aith, in Western Shetland.

Rather weak quake, but I assume the shallowness is what made it noticeable?

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

Aparrently there are about 3 quakes of this size per year in the UK. Shetland is seismically quiet and this is the first quake on land since a Mag 2 event on Unst in 1886.

Some excellent info from BGS:

BGS seismogrammes etc

Edited January 15, 2009 by Shetland Coastie

[Cookie]

was picked up in the western isles apparently,

[J07]

Aparrently there are about 3 quakes of this size per year in the UK.

That sounds like the UK as a whole is very seismically quiet?

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

That sounds like the UK as a whole is very seismically quiet?

Relatively speaking. There are areas which are fairly active but at a low level, like the Great Glen in Scotland and the UK does get the occasional quake of the order of Mag 5.

[Albion Snowman]

It is very unusual to have an earthquake in the UK, let alone the Shetland Isles! Due to the Uk being no where near a plate boundary, its a very rare occasion.

[James M]

It is very unusual to have an earthquake in the UK, let alone the Shetland Isles! Due to the Uk being no where near a plate boundary, its a very rare occasion.

I think there are a fair few small ones every year though as there are many minor fault lines across the country. There is a table somewhere of how often earthquakes occur in Britain I'll see if I can find it.

Here it is http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquak.../faqs/faq6.html, there around 200-300 earthquake detected in the UK every year albeit small ones, which is more than you would think.

Edited January 17, 2009 by James M

[Albion Snowman]

Sorry! Let me re-phrase it- I have not explained what i meant very well!......

There isnt many earthquakes that are felt and most are of a negligable amount. I think there was one local to me in 2002 in Dudley . It was upgraded to 5.1 i think.

James M-Thats staggering! So theres on average an earthquake in the UK every 2 days!?

Edited January 17, 2009 by Albion Snowman

[James M]

Sorry! Let me re-phrase it- I have not explained what i meant very well!......

There isnt many earthquakes that are felt and most are of a negligable amount. I think there was one local to me in 2002 in Dudley . It was upgraded to 5.1 i think.

James M-Thats staggering! So theres on average an earthquake in the UK every 2 days!?

It is suprising isn't it, obviously most of them won't be felt but that's still a fair few every year that are.

Edited January 17, 2009 by James M

[Jane Louise]

Hi there,

I happen to have this in my bookmarks regarding UK Earthquakes. Hope this helps :

http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquak...klet_eqs_uk.htm

Ooops ! Sorry James,seems you have already posted up the same site.Silly me lol

Edited January 17, 2009 by Jane Louise

[Albion Snowman]

It is suprising isn't it, obviously most of them won't be felt but that's still a fair few every year that are.

Its hard to grasp. The UK, a quite stable landmass in relation to tectonic activity, has an earthquake roughly every 2 days! Do you know or have you any data as to where the focus/ epicentre is for most of these UK earthquakes please? Im intrigued!

Thanks!

Ah i see you have just answered my question-Thanks Jane-Louise!

Edited January 17, 2009 by Albion Snowman

[James M]

Its hard to grasp. The UK, a quite stable landmass in relation to tectonic activity, has an earthquake roughly every 2 days! Do you know or have you any data as to where the focus/ epicentre is for most of these UK earthquakes please? Im intrigued!

Thanks!

Ah i see you have just answered my question-Thanks Jane-Louise!

There's also this interactive map which shows them in more detail, plus lots of other interesting data.

Edited January 17, 2009 by James M

[Albion Snowman]

Thanks, thats actually a very good tool with a really good zoom showing my area in very good detail

[Jane Louise]

Its hard to grasp. The UK, a quite stable landmass in relation to tectonic activity, has an earthquake roughly every 2 days! Do you know or have you any data as to where the focus/ epicentre is for most of these UK earthquakes please? Im intrigued!

Thanks!

Ah i see you have just answered my question-Thanks Jane-Louise!

your welcome

[LadyPakal]

Earthquake:

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/seism_read.ph...49〈=eng

Friday, March 06, 2009 at 10:50 in the morning at epicenter, magnitude 6.5, 425.4 km (264.33 miles) E of Barentsburg, Svalbard,