ANOTHER 7.x in the Western Pacific….
Quakes Australia 25 Dec 2010
Zooming in on the spot:
Quake Vaunatu 25 Dec 2010
The Particulars:
Magnitude 7.3 – VANUATU REGION
2010 December 25 13:16:37 UTC
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 7.3
Date-Time Saturday, December 25, 2010 at 13:16:37 UTC
Sunday, December 26, 2010 at 12:16:37 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 19.775°S, 167.895°E
Depth 12.3 km (7.6 miles)
Region VANUATU REGION
Distances 145 km (90 miles) W of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu
195 km (120 miles) N of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
230 km (145 miles) S of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu
1740 km (1080 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7 km (4.3 miles); depth +/- 7.8 km (4.8 miles)
Parameters NST=173, Nph=173, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.52 sec, Gp= 43°,
M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usc0000usf
This posting is short on comments and short on the Rest Of World maps but I needed to get something up quick as there is a tsuname risk to various places.
So a h/t to Baa Humbug in https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/quakes-7-4-off-japan-iwo-jima/#comment-10377.
You ought to “click through” to the prior posting on quakes for the global maps. It sure looks to me like a lot of places are “getting action”…
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/quakes-7-4-off-japan-iwo-jima/
Australia and Indonesia Live Map
Australia Region Quake Map
Original Image, with captions and description. The original is interactive with clickable regions for ‘close ups’.
Here’s the whole Asia view:
Asia Quakes
Musings from the Chiefio 
Looks like they’ve added a 6.2 for “icing”…
Magnitude 6.2 – VANUATU
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 6.2
Date-Time Sunday, December 26, 2010 at 02:13:37 UTC
Sunday, December 26, 2010 at 01:13:37 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 19.633°S, 168.321°E
Depth 9.2 km (5.7 miles)
Region VANUATU
Distances 100 km (60 miles) W of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu
210 km (130 miles) S of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu
215 km (135 miles) NNE of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
1785 km (1110 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 15.4 km (9.6 miles); depth +/- 0.5 km (0.3 miles)
Parameters NST=259, Nph=262, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=0.8 sec, Gp= 29°,
M-type=”moment” magnitude from initial P wave (tsuboi method) (Mi/Mwp), Version=8
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usc0000v6x
Interesting reminder of the history… I saw a “possibly related” that looked interesting and followed it.
From back in October 8, 2009
I’d remembered some 7.x from Vanuatu but had forgotten it was a 7.8 size. I think I was just remembering the 7.3 from August 2010 and / or the 7.2 from May 2010…
Remind me not to build a brick building in Vanuatu…
Multiple 7.somethings spread over a couple of years has got to be nerve wracking…
Putting “Vanuatu quake history” in google as search terms gave an odd looking result about a page down labled “timeline results for Vanuatu quake history“. Capturing the link gave this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Vanuatu+quake+history&hl=en&prmd=ivns&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=NsoWTYenMou8sQOw_an7Cg&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CD0Q5wIwCg
At the top of that link is a chart that looks like building frequencies of references inside of Google. Interesting… It seems to show a building pattern of interest. One wonders if it is a useful indicator of quake activity…
And I don’t like how it’s building to a creshendo…
When your aftershocks are 6.6 and you’ve had more 7.x in the year than I can remember, somthing is going on. I don’t know what it is, but …
Magnitude 6.6 – VANUATU
2010 December 29 06:54:21 UTC
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 6.6
Date-Time Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 06:54:21 UTC
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 05:54:21 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 19.682°S, 168.175°E
Depth 31 km (19.3 miles)
Region VANUATU
Distances 115 km (70 miles) W of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu
210 km (130 miles) N of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
215 km (135 miles) S of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu
1770 km (1100 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 15.7 km (9.8 miles); depth +/- 1.1 km (0.7 miles)
Parameters NST= 66, Nph= 68, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.29 sec, Gp= 61°,
M-type=”moment” magnitude from initial P wave (tsuboi method) (Mi/Mwp), Version=7
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usc0000wb3
I heard briefly on the news that Christchurch (NZ) has had some strong aftershocks. That’s 10 months after the quake earlier this year.
magnitude 4.9 on boxing day http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10696807
here is a list of the last 30 quakes on the “Shakey Isles”
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html