Earthquake Activity Thread

[john pike]

Extremely dangerous earthquake in Xinjiang, China

GEOFON Southern Xinjiang, China Feb 12 09:19 6.9 10 MAP I Felt It INFO

http://earthquake-report.com/2014/02/12/very-strong-earthquake-southern-xinjiang-china-on-february-12-2014/

More info when in

[john pike]

A powerful earthquake struck a sparsely populated area of China's far western region of Xinjiang on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if it caused any casualties or significant damage. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.9 quake was centered 268 kilometers (167 miles) east-southeast of Hotan at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the quake at magnitude 7.3 and said it was followed by at least seven smaller quakes within the following half hour. The epicenter was in Yutian county, a mountainous area several thousand meters above sea level on the edge of the Taklamakan desert. A magnitude-7.2 quake in that area in March 2008 collapsed some houses but caused no injuries. China Earthquake Networks Center researcher Sun Shihong said any casualties from Wednesday's quake would likely be low. The director of the Yutian Civil Affairs Bureau, Zhang Chong, said officials were still gathering information. A police officer in Yutian said he had felt tremors shaking the police station and ran outside. Wang Gang, a fire brigade chief in Yutian County, told the national CCTV broadcaster he was heading from the county seat to the earthquake zone, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) away, with a team of police and firefighters.

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=EQ-20140212-42658-CHN

[john pike]

The number of people affected by a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that jolted Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Wednesday has shot up to more than 450,000 from the previously reported 7,800, news portal people.com.cn reported Saturday. Relief work is progressing and no casualties have been reported. A total of 68,340 houses have collapsed and 497 bridges have been damaged by the earthquake, according to statistics released by the regional civil affairs department. The department said reported statistics on losses inflicted by the disaster have surged since calculations are still under way. The epicenter, in a sparsely populated area with an average altitude of 5,000 meters, is more than 50 kilometers from the nearest settlement, Aqqan township in Hotan Prefecture.

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_update_read&edis_id=EQ-20140212-42658-CHN&uid=14697

[Love Snow]

Breaking news

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake has struck off Barbados, according to the US Geological Survey.

The epicentre of the quake was 126 miles northeast of the capital Bridgetown at a depth of 20 miles.

[john pike]

not 6

 

but reporting as a populated area

 

  Magnitude mb 5.7 Region NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL PERU Date time 2014-02-18 23:35:58.0 UTC Location 14.14 S ; 75.61 W Depth 52 km Distances.

 

278 km SE of Lima, Peru / pop: 7,737,002 / local time: 18:35:58.0 2014-02-18'

 

 

15 km SE of Ica, Peru / pop: 246,844 / local time: 18:35:58.0 2014-02-18'
10 km SE of Los Aquijes, Peru / pop: 7,848 / local time: 18:35:58.0 2014-02-18

Source parameters not yet reviewed by a seismologist

 

 

M 5.7 - NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL PERU - 2014-02-18 23:35:58 UTC

 

update when more info comes in

 

The South American arc extends over 7,000 km, from the Chilean margin triple junction offshore of southern Chile to its intersection with the Panama fracture zone, offshore of the southern coast of Panama in Central America. It marks the plate boundary between the subducting Nazca plate and the South America plate, where the oceanic crust and lithosphere of the Nazca plate begin their descent into the mantle beneath South America. The convergence associated with this subduction process is responsible for the uplift of the Andes Mountains, and for the active volcanic chain present along much of this deformation front. Relative to a fixed South America plate, the Nazca plate moves slightly north of eastwards at a rate varying from approximately 80 mm/yr in the south to approximately 65 mm/yr in the north. Although the rate of subduction varies little along the entire arc, there are complex changes in the geologic processes along the subduction zone that dramatically influence volcanic activity, crustal deformation, earthquake generation and occurrence all along the western edge of South America.

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000mt6q#summary

 

updated

 

now up to 6

 

M 6.0 - NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL PERU - 2014-02-18 23:35:58 UTC

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=360620

Edited February 19, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

Earthquakes around the British Isles in the last 50 days

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[weatherobsuk]

Magnitude 4.5 earthquake at 13:21 at lat 51.09, Long -3.79 just north of North Molton, Exmoor

 

http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/helicorder/heli_dir_shz/HTL_SHZ_GB_00.2014022000.gif

[swebby]

BBC Story on it - did not notice anything down here in Exeter but apparently it was felt in Exmouth.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26277432

[john pike]

 

http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/recent_events/20140220132017.html#page=additional

 

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_critical&rid=386994

Edited February 20, 2014 by john pike

[Love Snow]

Earthquakes around the British Isles in the last 50 days

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

Did you sense something was brewing ?

[john pike]

hi love snow

 

something i am working on and will explain in the near future

 

have a look at these

 

http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html?mode=earthquakes

 

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/hazards/earthquakes/UK.html

 

i hope they are useful

 

john

[john pike]

Magnitude ML 5.4 Region TAIWAN Date time 2014-02-21 20:25:16.0 UTC Location 24.70 N ; 121.60 E Depth 62 km

 

Distances 39 km S of Taipei, Taiwan / pop: 7,871,900 / local time: 04:25:16.0 2014-02-22

 

17 km W of Yilan, Taiwan / pop: 94,188 / local time: 04:25:16.0 2014-02-22

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=361119#summary

 

 

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=361119#map

 

will update more info when in

 

quakes here can cause a lot of problems

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_critical&rid=387254

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_volcano&rid=387254

Edited February 21, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

M6.1 - 138km NNW of Amukta Island, Alaska

 

 

very deep 260km damage and tsunami unlikely

 

Seismotectonics of Alaska

 

The Aleutian arc extends approximately 3,000 km from the Gulf of Alaska in the east to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the west. It marks the region where the Pacific plate subducts into the mantle beneath the North America plate. This subduction is responsible for the generation of the Aleutian Islands and the deep offshore Aleutian Trench.

The curvature of the arc results in a westward transition of relative plate motion from trench-normal (i.e., compressional) in the east to trench-parallel (i.e., translational) in the west, accompanied by westward variations in seismic activity, volcanism, and overriding plate composition. The Aleutian arc is generally divided into three regions: the western, central, and eastern Aleutians. Relative to a fixed North America plate, the Pacific plate is moving northwest at a rate that increases from roughly 60 mm/yr at the arc's eastern edge to 76 mm/yr near its western terminus. The eastern Aleutian arc extends from the Alaskan Peninsula in the east to the Fox Islands in the west. Motion along this section of the arc is characterized by arc-perpendicular convergence and Pacific plate subduction beneath thick continental lithosphere. This region exhibits intense volcanic activity and has a history of megathrust earthquakes.

The central Aleutian arc extends from the Andreanof Islands in the east to the Rat Islands in the west. Here, motion is characterized by westward-increasing oblique convergence and Pacific plate subduction beneath thin oceanic lithosphere. Along this portion of the arc, the Wadati-Benioff zone is well defined to depths of approximately 200 km. Despite the obliquity of convergence, active volcanism and megathrust earthquakes are also present along this margin.

The western Aleutians, stretching from the western end of the Rat Islands in the east to the Commander Islands, Russia, in the west, is tectonically different from the central and eastern portions of the arc. The increasing component of transform motion between the Pacific and North America plates is evidenced by diminishing active volcanism; the last active volcano is located on Buldir Island, in the far western portion of the Rat Island chain. Additionally, this portion of the subduction zone has not hosted large earthquakes or megathrust events in recorded history. Instead, the largest earthquakes in this region are generally shallow, predominantly strike-slip events with magnitudes between M5-6. Deeper earthquakes do occur, albeit rather scarcely and with small magnitudes (M<4), down to approximately 50 km.

Most of the seismicity along the Aleutian arc results from thrust faulting that occurs along the interface between the Pacific and North America plates, extending from near the base of the trench to depths of 40 to 60 km. Slip along this interface is responsible for generating devastating earthquakes. Deformation also occurs within the subducting slab in the form of intermediate-depth earthquakes that can reach depths of 250 km. Normal faulting events occur in the outer rise region of the Aleutian arc resulting from the bending of the oceanic Pacific plate as it enters the Aleutian trench. Additionally, deformation of the overriding North America plate generates shallow crustal earthquakes.

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000myqq#summary

Edited February 26, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

M6.2 - 23km WSW of Jiquilillo, Nicaragua

 

seismotectonics of the Caribbean Region and Vicinity

Extensive diversity and complexity of tectonic regimes characterizes the perimeter of the Caribbean plate, involving no fewer than four major plates (North America, South America, Nazca, and Cocos). Inclined zones of deep earthquakes (Wadati-Benioff zones), ocean trenches, and arcs of volcanoes clearly indicate subduction of oceanic lithosphere along the Central American and Atlantic Ocean margins of the Caribbean plate, while crustal seismicity in Guatemala, northern Venezuela, and the Cayman Ridge and Cayman Trench indicate transform fault and pull-apart basin tectonics.

Along the northern margin of the Caribbean plate, the North America plate moves westwards with respect to the Caribbean plate at a velocity of approximately 20 mm/yr. Motion is accommodated along several major transform faults that extend eastward from Isla de Roatan to Haiti, including the Swan Island Fault and the Oriente Fault. These faults represent the southern and northern boundaries of the Cayman Trench. Further east, from the Dominican Republic to the Island of Barbuda, relative motion between the North America plate and the Caribbean plate becomes increasingly complex and is partially accommodated by nearly arc-parallel subduction of the North America plate beneath the Caribbean plate. This results in the formation of the deep Puerto Rico Trench and a zone of intermediate focus earthquakes (70-300 km depth) within the subducted slab. Although the Puerto Rico subduction zone is thought to be capable of generating a megathrust earthquake, there have been no such events in the past century. The last probable interplate (thrust fault) event here occurred on May 2, 1787 and was widely felt throughout the island with documented destruction across the entire northern coast, including Arecibo and San Juan. Since 1900, the two largest earthquakes to occur in this region were the August 4, 1946 mate.0 Samana earthquake in northeastern Hispaniola and the July 29, 1943 M7.6 Mona Passage earthquake, both of which were shallow thrust fault earthquakes. A significant portion of the motion between the North America plate and the Caribbean plate in this region is accommodated by a series of left-lateral strike-slip faults that bisect the island of Hispaniola, notably the Septentrional Fault in the north and the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault in the south. Activity adjacent to the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault system is best documented by the devastating January 12, 2010 M7.0 Haiti strike-slip earthquake, its associated aftershocks and a comparable earthquake in 1770.

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000mzef#summary

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_volcano&rid=388865

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_last&rid=388865

 

will update later if needed

Edited March 2, 2014 by john pike

[Snowyowl9]

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/Map/zoom.php?key=115&typ=euro#2

A 4.1 quake in crimea,not where they need it as events are going on there in other ways.

This is offshore on a fault line.

[john pike]

M6.6 - 106km NNW of Nago, Japan

 

 

The Philippine Sea plate is bordered by the larger Pacific and Eurasia plates and the smaller Sunda plate. The Philippine Sea plate is unusual in that its borders are nearly all zones of plate convergence. The Pacific plate is subducted into the mantle, south of Japan, beneath the Izu-Bonin and Mariana island arcs, which extend more than 3,000 km along the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea plate. This subduction zone is characterized by rapid plate convergence and high-level seismicity extending to depths of over 600 km. In spite of this extensive zone of plate convergence, the plate interface has been associated with few great (M>8.0) ‘megathrust’ earthquakes. This low seismic energy release is thought to result from weak coupling along the plate interface (Scholz and Campos, 1995). These convergent plate margins are also associated with unusual zones of back-arc extension (along with resulting seismic activity) that decouple the volcanic island arcs from the remainder of the Philippine Sea Plate (Karig et al., 1978; Klaus et al., 1992).

South of the Mariana arc, the Pacific plate is subducted beneath the Yap Islands along the Yap trench. The long zone of Pacific plate subduction at the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea Plate is responsible for the generation of the deep Izu-Bonin, Mariana, and Yap trenches as well as parallel chains of islands and volcanoes, typical of circum-pacific island arcs. Similarly, the northwestern margin of the Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the Eurasia plate along a convergent zone, extending from southern Honshu to the northeastern coast of Taiwan, manifested by the Ryukyu Islands and the Nansei-Shoto (Ryukyu) trench. The Ryukyu Subduction Zone is associated with a similar zone of back-arc extension, the Okinawa Trough. At Taiwan, the plate boundary is characterized by a zone of arc-continent collision, whereby the northern end of the Luzon island arc is colliding with the buoyant crust of the Eurasia continental margin offshore China.

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/at00n1ts2y#summary

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=seism_volcano&rid=388959

Edited March 2, 2014 by john pike

[Love Snow]

 

Reuters: U.S. Geological Survey says magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits off Okinawa in Japan

[john pike]

http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/#

[john pike]

M 5.8 - OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE - 2014-03-04 10:51:13 UTC

 

Magnitude Mw 5.8 Region OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE Date time 2014-03-04 10:51:13.0 UTC Location 33.57 S ; 72.02 W Depth 6 km Distances 128 km W of Santiago, Chile / pop: 4,837,295 / local time: 07:51:13.0 2014-03-04.

69 km SW of Valparaíso, Chile / pop: 282,448 / local time: 07:51:13.0 2014-03-04.

37 km W of San Antonio, Chile / pop: 85,651 / local time: 07:51:13.0 2014-03-04.

 

 

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=363015#map

 

posted due to location

 

also

 

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

 

a fair amount of aftershocks too

 

will update if any damage is reported

Edited March 4, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

M6.3 - 262km ESE of Sola, Vanuatu 2014-03-05 09:56:58 UTC

very deep 638 km

 

 

Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate

The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.

Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 mate.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 mate.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar events are likely to occur again.

North of New Zealand, the Australia-Pacific boundary stretches east of Tonga and Fiji to 250 km south of Samoa. For 2,200 km the trench is approximately linear, and includes two segments where old (>120 Myr) Pacific oceanic lithosphere rapidly subducts westward (Kermadec and Tonga). At the northern end of the Tonga trench, the boundary curves sharply westward and changes along a 700 km-long segment from trench-normal subduction, to oblique subduction, to a left lateral transform-like structure.

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000n1ex#summary

 

no damage likely

[swebby]

Story on the BBC about the appearance of lightning/atmospheric glow during earthquakes.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26462348

 

http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR14/Event/214444

[john pike]

M6.3 - 32km SW of Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, Mexico 2014-03-10 00:38:20 UTC

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000n65q#summary

 

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=363952#summary

 

will update when more info comes in

seismotectonics of Mexico

Located atop three of the large tectonic plates, Mexico is one of the world's most seismically active regions. The relative motion of these crustal plates causes frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. Most of the Mexican landmass is on the westward moving North American plate. The Pacific Ocean floor south of Mexico is being carried northeastward by the underlying Cocos plate. Because oceanic crust is relatively dense, when the Pacific Ocean floor encounters the lighter continental crust of the Mexican landmass, the ocean floor is subducted beneath the North American plate creating the deep Middle American trench along Mexico's southern coast. Also as a result of this convergence, the westward moving Mexico landmass is slowed and crumpled creating the mountain ranges of southern Mexico and earthquakes near Mexico's southern coast. As the oceanic crust is pulled downward, it melts; the molten material is then forced upward through weaknesses in the overlying continental crust. This process has created a region of volcanoes across south-central Mexico known as the Cordillera Neovolcánica.

The area west of the Gulf of California, including Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, is moving northwestward with the Pacific plate at about 50 mm per year. Here, the Pacific and North American plates grind past each other creating strike-slip faulting, the southern extension of California's San Andreas fault. In the past, this relative plate motion pulled Baja California away from the coast forming the Gulf of California and is the cause of earthquakes in the Gulf of California region today.

Mexico has a long history of destructive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In September 1985, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake killed more than 9,500 people in Mexico City

 

Edited March 10, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

M 6.9 - OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - 2014-03-10 05:18:13 UTC

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=363980

 

 

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Series-of-quakes-including-6-9-temblor-hits-5303427.php

 

 

http://www.livescience.com/25521-weird-volcano-found-baja.html

 

interesting location re the above link

Edited March 10, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

M5.9 - 123km N of Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea 2014-03-10 17:33:29 UTC

 

267 km deep which helps as quakes around this area can cause problems

 

Seismotectonics of the New Guinea Region and Vicinity

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.

Along the South Solomon trench, the Australia plate converges with the Pacific plate at a rate of approximately 95 mm/yr towards the east-northeast. Seismicity along the trench is dominantly related to subduction tectonics and large earthquakes are common: there have been 13 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded since 1900. On April 1, 2007, a mate.1 interplate megathrust earthquake occurred at the western end of the trench, generating a tsunami and killing at least 40 people. This was the third mate.1 megathrust event associated with this subduction zone in the past century; the other two occurred in 1939 and 1977.

Further east at the New Britain trench, the relative motions of several microplates surrounding the Australia-Pacific boundary, including north-south oriented seafloor spreading in the Woodlark Basin south of the Solomon Islands, maintain the general northward subduction of Australia-affiliated lithosphere beneath Pacific-affiliated lithosphere. Most of the large and great earthquakes east of New Guinea are related to this subduction; such earthquakes are particularly concentrated at the cusp of the trench south of New Ireland. 33 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since 1900, including three shallow thrust fault mate.1 events in 1906, 1919, and 2007.

 

more

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000n6px#summary

[Crepuscular Ray]

M 6.9 - OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - 2014-03-10 05:18:13 UTC

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=363980

 

 

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Series-of-quakes-including-6-9-temblor-hits-5303427.php

 

 

http://www.livescience.com/25521-weird-volcano-found-baja.html

 

interesting location re the above link

For the USGS to issue this warning this morning, they must think they've got strong evidence that stresses are building up nearer the populated areas...

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/california-braces-as-geologists-warn-of-strong-and-damaging-aftershocks-following-quake-9182134.html

Edited March 10, 2014 by Crepuscular Ray