Earthquake Activity Thread

[john pike]

http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/recent_uk_events.html

 

again a couple more in jersey and 1 in notts

[john pike]

csem called the quake earlier a mag 4

 

and had a few felt comments

 

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=392290

 

M 4.0 - CHANNEL ISL. REG, UNITED KINGDOM - 2014-07-23 16:26:41 UTC

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_critical&rid=421846

Edited July 23, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/large-alaska-earthquake-strongly-felt-in-whitehorse/32523/

 

Large Alaska earthquake strongly felt in Whitehorse

click link

an interesting video in there too

[john pike]

M6.0 - Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge

10km deep

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000rxni#summary

[john pike]

M6.3 - 19km SW of Juan Rodriguez Clara, Mexico

2014-07-29 10:46:15 UTC

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000ry8m#summary

[john pike]

M 3.0 - CHANNEL ISL. REG, UNITED KINGDOM - 2014-07-29 17:12:09 UTC

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=393055#summary

[john pike]

(Reuters) - At least six people died after a magnitude 5.5 earthquake hit southeast of the Algerian capital on Friday, shaking buildings and sending panicked families rushing into the streets of Algiers, authorities said.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/08/01/us-algeria-earthquake-idUKKBN0G13C420140801

[john pike]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-28630110

 

At least 150 people have been killed and scores more injured after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck in south-west China, state media say.

Edited August 3, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-28630110

 

updated 20.08 toll to 367 and expected to climb

 

update to the china quake plus video

Edited August 3, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

M6.9 - Federated States of Micronesia region M6.1 - Federated States of Micronesia region

 

The Australia-Pacific plate boundary is over 4000 km long on the northern margin, from the Sunda (Java) trench in the west to the Solomon Islands in the east. The eastern section is over 2300 km long, extending west from northeast of the Australian continent and the Coral Sea until it intersects the east coast of Papua New Guinea. The boundary is dominated by the general northward subduction of the Australia plate.

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000rzkl#summary

 

2 quakes from earlier today

 

no damage reported

[john pike]

An earthquake shook buildings in Johannesburg and surrounding areas in South Africa's most populous province on Tuesday. At least one person was killed and three were injured, medical staff said. The magnitude-5.3 quake was centered in Orkney, 170 kilometers (105 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, the U.S. Geological Survey said. One man died when a wall of a disused mining building fell on him, said Werner Vermaak, a spokesman for emergency responders working in the Orkney area, a center of gold-mining operations. Mine managers ordered the evacuation of workers from shafts and there were no immediate reports of casualties underground, Vermaak said. Three people were hurt when the quake damaged a training center at a mine, said Phoka Sefali, a receptionist at a hospital in Orkney. "The roof fell on them, but they haven't got serious injuries," he said. Hospital staff were on standby, awaiting the outcome of safety checks on miners who were underground at the time of the earthquake, Sefali said. "ER24 spokeswoman Luyanda Majija said they had received reports that the tremor had had a significant impact on one mine. "Our crew is heading to the mine where miners are reported to trapped at 11 shafts," said Majija. Quakes are a concern to mining companies that operate around Johannesburg, the biggest city in Gauteng province. Mining is a traditional pillar of industry in South Africa. Lindy Sirayi, a guesthouse owner in Orkney, said the tremor broke glass lampshades and cracked a wall, and that dogs started barking during the quake, which lasted about a minute. Aftershocks were felt, but the electricity in the guesthouse stayed on, Sirayi said. The quake was also felt in Pretoria, the South African capital, and Hartbeespoort, a nearby resort town. The area has periodic, moderate tremors, though the quake on Tuesday was one of the strongest in recent years. Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=event_update_read&edis_id=EQ-20140805-44813-ZAF&uid=15136

 

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=393931#summary

[john pike]

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-shocking-photos-earthquake-in-china-2014-8

[john pike]

The explosive crack of firecrackers has been resounding through the villages, but here, they’re being let off in grief rather than in celebration. The death toll for the deadliest earthquake to hit China’s southwest Yunnan province in decades has climbed to 589. More than 328 are from the worst-hit Ludian County, where entire villages like Longtoushan have become uninhabitable; houses have been flattened, roads ruptured, drinking water compromised. As emergency crews and the People’s Liberation Army work to clear roads, provide basic food and shelter, and search for any trapped survivors, a growing count of bodies piled up at the front of the village when Fairfax Media visited Tuesday, waiting to be transported to town for cremation. But with the only road to town, a winding two-lane motorway through lush green terraces cut into the sides of the mountains, frequently blocked by falling boulders, access has been severely delayed. Unable to provide a proper burial, grieving families are fighting to provide a dignified send-off for their loved ones. Xiao Gongchao and his family had hiked up and down the side of a mountain for more than two hours to retrieve the bodies of his grandmother Li Zhenqian, 81, and nephew, Lin Zixing, 5, wrapped head-to-toe in a tarpaulin and strapped to make-shift stretchers. “The rescue workers weren’t going to help us, it’s been days,†Xiao, 25, says, dripping with sweat. “There are still bodies trapped up there that can’t get down.â€

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=event_update_read&edis_id=EQ-20140803-44780-CHN&uid=15137

 

more in link above

[john pike]

M6.1 - Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia 2014-08-06 11:45:22 UTC

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000s0r6#summary

 

from a little earlier

 

will update should any reports come in

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_volcano&rid=424448

Edited August 6, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

2010 Chilean earthquake causes icequakes in Antarctica Technology allows scientists to hear seismic waves as they arrived on frozen continent

 VIDEO: High-frequency icequakes are shown at station HOWD in Antarctica during the distant waves of the 2010 magnitude 8.8 Chile earthquake. The triggered icequakes are indicated by the narrow vertical bands...

Click here for more information.

Seismic events aren't rare occurrences on Antarctica, where sections of the frozen desert can experience hundreds of micro-earthquakes an hour due to ice deformation. Some scientists call them icequakes. But in March of 2010, the ice sheets in Antarctica vibrated a bit more than usual because of something more than 3,000 miles away: the 8.8-magnitude Chilean earthquake. A new Georgia Institute of Technology study published in Nature Geoscience is the first to indicate that Antarctica's frozen ground is sensitive to seismic waves from distant earthquakes.

To study the quake's impact on Antarctica, the Georgia Tech team looked at seismic data from 42 stations in the six hours before and after the 3:34 a.m. event. The researchersused the same technology that allowed them to "hear" the seismic response at large distances for the devastating 2011 magnitude 9 Japan earthquake as it rumbled through the earth. In other words, they simply removed the longer-period signals as the seismic waves spread from the distant epicenter to identify high-frequency signals from nearby sources. Nearly 30 percent (12 of the 42 stations) showed clear evidence of high-frequency seismic signals as the surface-wave arrived on Antarctica.

"We interpret these events as small icequakes, most of which were triggered during or immediately after the passing of long-period Rayleigh waves generated from the Chilean mainshock," said Zhigang Peng, an associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences who led the study. "This is somewhat different from the micro-earthquakes and tremor caused by both Love and Rayleigh-type surface waves that traditionally occur in other tectonically active regions thousands of miles from large earthquakes.

 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-08/giot-2ce080814.php

[john pike]

A shallow 5.1-magnitude earthquake has stuck the Ecuadoran capital Quito triggering landslides and killing at least two people. Another eight people were injured and three others trapped in the landslides at quarries on the outskirts of Quito, the country's risk management agency said on Twitter. A landslide also engulfed a vehicle on a road north of the city, but the driver escaped unharmed, rescue workers said. Authorities closed roads around the capital in case of more landslides, and also shut the Quito airport. The quake lasted more than 20 seconds and caused panic in Quito, where residents evacuated buildings after it struck at 2:58 pm (19:58 GMT). "I was talking on the phone with my daughter and suddenly the line went dead. I thought the house was falling down," Laura Flores, a resident of Quito's northern Carcelen district said. She said the quake had opened a crack in one wall of her house and caused several plates to fall and break. The country's Geophysics Institute said the quake ocurred at a depth of 5km and was followed by a forceful aftershock. It warned that more small aftershocks were possible. Emergency services said the epicenter was near Mitad del Mundo, a tourist attraction at the equator where a monument is being built at the dividing line between the northern and southern hemispheres. Ecuador is located along the Pacific Ocean's seismically turbulent "Ring of Fire," which makes it prone to earthquakes.

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=event_update_read&edis_id=EQ-20140813-44900-ECU&uid=15160

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-28767140

 

update on quake from yesterday

Edited August 13, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

M 5.6 - EASTERN KAZAKHSTAN - 2014-08-15 21:42:30 UTC

only 5km deep

 

 

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=395046#summary

 

posted as v close to a big populated area 40 km E of Almaty, Kazakhstan / pop: 2,000,900 / local time: 03:42:30.1 2014-08-16

 

will update if any new info comes in

 

 

Tectonic Summary Seismotectonics of the Himalaya and Vicinity

Seismicity in the Himalaya dominantly results from the continental collision of the India and Eurasia plates, which are converging at a relative rate of 40-50 mm/yr. Northward underthrusting of India beneath Eurasia generates numerous earthquakes and consequently makes this area one of the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth. The surface expression of the plate boundary is marked by the foothills of the north-south trending Sulaiman Range in the west, the Indo-Burmese Arc in the east and the east-west trending Himalaya Front in the north of India.

 

The India-Eurasia plate boundary is a diffuse boundary, which in the region near the north of India, lies within the limits of the Indus-Tsangpo (also called the Yarlung-Zangbo) Suture to the north and the Main Frontal Thrust to the south. The Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone is located roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an exposed ophiolite chain along its southern margin. The narrow (<200km) Himalaya Front includes numerous east-west trending, parallel structures. This region has the highest rates of seismicity and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by movement on thrust faults. Examples of significant earthquakes, in this densely populated region, caused by reverse slip movement include the 1934 mate.1 Bihar, the 1905 M7.5 Kangra and the 2005 M7.6 Kashmir earthquakes. The latter two resulted in the highest death tolls for Himalaya earthquakes seen to date, together killing over 100,000 people and leaving millions homeless. The largest instrumentally recorded Himalaya earthquake occurred on 15th August 1950 in Assam, eastern India. This mate.6 right-lateral, strike-slip, earthquake was widely felt over a broad area of central Asia, causing extensive damage to villages in the epicentral region.

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000s37z#summary

Edited August 15, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

A powerful earthquake struck early August 18 in western Iran, injuring dozens of people in a region near the border with Iraq. Local authorities said they fear the quake may have caused widespread destruction in rural areas. The 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit at a depth of around 10 kilometers in an area 36 kilometers southeast of the Iranian city of Abdanan. It was followed by a series of aftershocks. The quake injured 60 people in Abdanan and cut off water, electricity and phone lines in the city. A local official said that authorities are expecting to find massive destruction in rural areas close to the epicenter, which was roughly 40 kilometers from the Iraqi border and not far from Iranian oil exploration and production facilities. The quake affected three Iranian provinces -- Ilam, Lorestan and Khuzesta.

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=event_update_read&edis_id=EQ-20140818-44958-IRN&uid=15173

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_population&rid=426231

 

and quite a few large aftershocks (or possible still pre-shocks)

 

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/

 

 

Seismotectonics of the Middle East and Vicinity

No fewer than four major tectonic plates (Arabia, Eurasia, India, and Africa) and one smaller tectonic block (Anatolia) are responsible for seismicity and tectonics in the Middle East and surrounding region. Geologic development of the region is a consequence of a number of first-order plate tectonic processes that include subduction, large-scale transform faulting, compressional mountain building and crustal extension.

Mountain building in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan is the result of compressional tectonics associated with collision of the India plate moving northwards at a rate of 40 mm/yr with respect to the Eurasia plate. Continental thickening of the northern and western edge of the India subcontinent has produced the highest mountains in the world, including the Himalayan, Karakoram, Pamir and Hindu Kush ranges. Earthquake activity and faulting found in this region, as well as adjacent parts of Afghanistan and India, are due to collisional plate tectonics.

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000s3np#summary

Edited August 18, 2014 by john pike

[lorenzo]

Magnitude 6.0 rocks Northern California.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28918600

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc72282711#summary

 

STRONG AFTERSHOCKS (Magnitude 5 and larger) -

 

At this time (immediately after the mainshock) the probability of a strong and possibly damaging aftershock IN THE NEXT 7 DAYS is approximately 54 PERCENT

 

EARTHQUAKES LARGER THAN THE MAINSHOCK -

 

Most likely, the recent mainshock will be the largest in the sequence. However, there is a small chance (APPROXIMATELY 5 TO 10 PERCENT) of an earthquake equal to or larger than this mainshock in the next 7 days.

 

WEAK AFTERSHOCKS (Magnitude 3 to 5) -

 

In addition, approximately 30 to 70 SMALL AFTERSHOCKS are expected in the same 7-DAY PERIOD and may be felt locally.

 

This probability report is based on the statistics of aftershocks typical for California. This is not an exact prediction, but only a rough guide to expected aftershock activity. This probability report may be revised as more information becomes available.

[john pike]

Quake from earlier

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000s5rc#summary

6.4. Chile. 18 km deep

[john pike]

6.0 earthquake jolts Bay Area; damage and at least 87 injuries reported

long, rolling temblor pegged at 6.0 by the U.S. Geological Survey shook a wide swath of the Bay Area awake early Sunday, causing damage to buildings and sending at least 87 people to a hospital.

More in link below

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-quake-near-napa-jolts-bay-area-20140824-story.html#page=1

[Tom Jarvis]

BREAKING M7 earthquake hits peru

[john pike]

M6.9 - 43km ENE of Tambo, Peru

2014-08-24 23:21:45 UTC

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000s5x1#summary

[Jax]

Is it me or has the activity risen recently? volcanos also in the news more at the moment.

[john pike]

Eruption updates & news from Stromboli:

After fluctuating and unstable effusive activity during the last few days, the vent seems to have once again increased its magma effusion rate and triggered a new pathway for the lava to flow down the upper part of the Sciara del Fuoco.

Whilst on the afternoon of the 23rd of August lava was still flowing down from the plateau in much the same location as it had done since opening of the vent on the 7th of August, the overflow of lava from the ca 600 m plateau onto the Sciara del Fuoco had substantially decreased by the early hours of the 24th of August.

As the hours passed by, the old lava flow dried up and started to cool down despite the fact that effusion from the vent at ca. 650 m seemed to continue. By midday of the 24th, the volume of lava issuing from the vent had even increased - as shown by the thermal webcam image which indicated two, instead of one, branches. Video:

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/stromboli/news/47159/Stromboli-volcano-Eolian-Islands-Italy-renewed-lava-flow.html

Edited August 26, 2014 by john pike