Quakes – Cascadia and Asia Pacific

Posted on 5 February 2012 by

H/t to Boballab https://chiefio.wordpress.com/t3/#comment-29832 for spotting the 3 quakes that have just happened on the Cascadia Fault. The detailed parameters of those quakes are in that comment so I’m not going to repeat them here. Suffice it to say it’s a good time to watch the Cascadia again to see if this is ‘business as usual’ or the start of something bigger. Watch for ‘aftershocks’ that are about the same size or increasing in frequency / distribution / strength…

This link: takes you to the dedicated CSZ page with closeups so you can see things happening in as much detail as you like.

North America

North America and Mid Atlantic Ridge Quake Map

North America and Mid Atlantic Ridge Quake Map

Original with clickable details

The USA map must have a lower limit of measured quakes as the count is much higher. There’s quite a few ‘small ones’ scattered all over the place…

Live map:

LIve Map of USA Quakes

LIve Map of USA Quakes

Here is a static image of what I’m seeing now:

Quakes - USA including smaller sized

Quakes - USA including smaller sized

Pacific View

I find this Pacific Ring Of Fire view interesting… there is activity all over the place including a rather large aftershock near Vanuatu.

Pacific Ring Of Fire view

Pacific Ring Of Fire view

A Static capture at the moment of the posting:

Quakes Pacific 5 Feb 2012 210_0

Quakes Pacific 5 Feb 2012 210_0

Magnitude 6.1 – VANUATU
2012 February 05 00:15:40 UTC

Earthquake Details
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 6.1
Date-Time Sunday, February 05, 2012 at 00:15:40 UTC
Sunday, February 05, 2012 at 11:15:40 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 18.935°S, 168.923°E
Depth 163.4 km (101.5 miles)
Region VANUATU
Distances 77 km (47 miles) NNW of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu
147 km (91 miles) SSE of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu
309 km (192 miles) NNE of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
1882 km (1169 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 14.1 km (8.8 miles); depth +/- 6.2 km (3.9 miles)
Parameters NST=314, Nph=375, Dmin=433 km, Rmss=0.87 sec, Gp= 25°,
M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=C
Source Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usb0007w23

Original Image

Australia / New Zealand

This is a live map of the Australia / Indonesia / New Zealand area:

Australia / Indonesia / New Zealand Quake Map

Australia / Indonesia / New Zealand Quake Map

Original with clickable regions to zoom in

There is also a rather odd ‘string of pearls’ of quakes across the middle of Asia:

Asia and Russia

Asia Quake Map

Asia Quake Map

Original Image with clickable areas

A ‘static image’ that captures the several 5.x quakes scattered all over Asia / Pacific, including the string across the middle.

Quakes Asia 5 Feb 2012

Quakes Asia 5 Feb 2012

Quakes from 8 to 30 days ago

Quakes last 8-30 days

Quakes last 8-30 days

Original Image with quake list and details clickable

New Zealand

As New Zealand had some activity recently, I’m leaving this closeup in place. Just so it’s easy to keep an eye on it.

New Zealand Close Up

New Zealand Close Up

Original Image with Clickable Areas

I’m promoting the Australia / New Zealand / Indonesia map up here to it’s easier to keep an eye on Indonesia as a broad active area.

Southern Hemisphere

A view of Earthquakes from the South Pole

A view of Earthquakes from the South Pole

Original Image with Clickable Details

Northern Hemisphere

North Polar Earthquake Map

North Polar Earthquake Map

Original Image with Clickable Details

California Map

Action Closer to Me

I felt the 3.x on the San Andreas near me but it wasn’t enough to get me looking at the quake page. Still, we’ve got ‘action’ in the Golden State. Note the cluster up near Geyserville is still very active.

As I live in California, it makes it easier for me if I keep them in the list where I can see what’s shaking near me.

Here is an alternative view of things with the fault lines highlighted:

California Quakes with fault lines

California Quakes with fault lines

Original Image
en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/2180

Historical Links

This page lists historical quakes by year, with news headlines too. I’ve pointed the link at 2011, but other years are there to choose too.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/

Oddly, just clicking on years and looking how long the list is, I find that 2011 is longer than 2009 is longer than 2005 etc. It looks like, at a gross measure, quake activity is higher. (Presuming they have standard criteria for what makes the list…)

While this page says for the USA 2010 was larger (but global quakes under 4.5 have a 2009 cut off so those numbers are not comparable):

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

Map of Plates

You can see it is where plates collide here:

Plates Of The World

Plates Of The World

Original Image, and with other language options.

Some Volcano Stuff

This page:

http://pangea.stanford.edu/~dsinnett/Pages/Links.html has a nice collection of links to volcano monitor pages. Just click the pictures for the different volcano observatories.

The Smithsonian page:

http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/

Subscribe to feed

About E.M.Smith

A technical managerial sort interested in things from Stonehenge to computer science. My present "hot buttons' are the mythology of Climate Change and ancient metrology; but things change...
This entry was posted in Earth Sciences and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

30 Responses to Quakes – Cascadia and Asia Pacific

  1. E.M.Smith says:
    5 February 2012 at 4:01 am

    There are 973 quakes on the “Recent US” map:

    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/

    Including quakes in Missouri, Texas, a 3.1 in Virginia and a string of them all over the Basin and Range area from Nevada into Utah and on up toward the Yellowstone area…

    Just seems high to me…

  2. E.M.Smith says:
    5 February 2012 at 7:18 am

    Hmmm… a 5.0 quake in Iran…

    Magnitude 5.0 – SOUTHERN IRAN
    2012 February 05 06:10:39 UTC

    Earthquake Details
    This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 5.0
    Date-Time Sunday, February 05, 2012 at 06:10:39 UTC
    Sunday, February 05, 2012 at 09:40:39 AM at epicenter
    Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 28.568°N, 51.471°E
    Depth 10.1 km (6.3 miles)
    Region SOUTHERN IRAN
    Distances 76 km (47 miles) SE of Bushehr, Iran
    111 km (68 miles) WSW of Firuzabad, Iran
    117 km (72 miles) S of Kazerun, Iran
    788 km (489 miles) S of TEHRAN, Iran
    Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 14.9 km (9.3 miles); depth +/- 1.6 km (1.0 miles)
    Parameters NST= 80, Nph= 84, Dmin=618.9 km, Rmss=0.59 sec, Gp= 58°,
    M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=5
    Source Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Event ID usb0007w4w

  3. adolfogiurfa says:
    5 February 2012 at 3:52 pm

    Well, let´s give time to time and it seems that Seattle´gulf will get united with the Gulf of California, from Anderson Island in the north to Montague island in the south.

  4. Pascvaks says:
    5 February 2012 at 5:23 pm

    Holy V.I. Lenin, I think it’s appalling, I say again appalling, that there just doesn’t seem to be a “fit” on some graph somewhere about the obvious connection between the increase in manmade CO2 and earthquakes. I mean it impacts everything else, it just has to cause all these damn earthquakes too. Right? Left? (SarcOff)

    What I was trying to find, really, was some total earthquake “energy release/year” kinda chart that I could hold up vs. a long-term sunspots (or F10.7) graph, but as Shakespeare would say, “Alas, there jus ain’t one that jumps out of a pic-search and bites ya on the nose, dang nab it!” Anyone seen such a chart? Alone or in tandem with spots or 10.7? Still got a link? Looking for “Connections” (remember that old TV series? Good Show!;-)

  5. Oliver K. Manuel says:
    5 February 2012 at 6:58 pm

    There are two versions of science today:

    1. One – based on the origin, composition and source of energy of the Earth-Sun system – operates on the fringes of science without government support. This version acknowledges the Sun’s dominant control over the planets and has a proven track record of predicting future events:

    a.) Astrophysicist Piers Corbyn’s forecasts of changes in weather, climate, and perhaps even earthquakes:

    http://www.weatheraction.com/docs/WANews12No6.pdf

    b.) Our ability to predict excess Xe-136 in Jupiter twelve years before the Galileo probe arrived there in 1995 and confirmed our 1983 prediction:

    http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc98/pdf/5011.pdf

    2. Two – based on government funding of an official mixture of fact, fraud, propaganda and “peer-reviewed” nonsense. This version downplays the Sun’s dominant control over Earth, relies on the government’s ability to hide data and and has a long track record of errors

    a.) Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth”, the UN’s IPCC reports

    b.) Plans provide energy from H-fusion reactors

    c.) The Bilderberg model of the Sun

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10640850/Climategate_Roots.pdf

  6. R. de Haan says:
    5 February 2012 at 8:04 pm

    It’s nice to see that after a quite period Katla is “swarming” again.
    http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/

    Same goes for El Hiero Volcano which has been quite for a shor period of time as well.
    http://www.jonfr.com/volcano/?p=2163

    Greece seems to remain an active region all the time
    http://www.emsc-csem.org/#2

  8. Pascvaks says:
    5 February 2012 at 11:54 pm

    Adolfo –
    Trying to fill the middle of this graph; Or, a piece of the more recent part of the graph;-)

  9. E.M.Smith says:
    6 February 2012 at 9:06 pm

    @Pascvaks:

    Search on “Earthquake cumulative energy” as in slide 17 here:

    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/Haiti-Chile.Slides.withnotes.pdf

    For correspondence with the global map, the largest five earthquakes are also labeled on the bar graph. These plots show that while the largest earthquakes in the historic record have occurred close together in time – first during the 1950’s and 1960’s and again since the turn of the 21st century there has been no appreciable increase in the rate of energy release between these large events, as indicated by the parallel red dashed lines. A statistical analysis of these data also shows that there is no meaningful, statistically significant clustering of M>=8 earthquakes in time.

    One wonders what kind of statistics were used…

    http://www.earthquakeprediction.gr/Magnitude%20determination.htm

    has many graphs, but a quick scan looks like they are mostly regional / local.

    Given their map for Greece, it looks like a log graph from the 50s to date, and given the general theme that over long periods (century scale?) the energy is roughly linear, that implies an increase in Greek quakes “soon”…

    Might also be worth looking at “total seismic energy” for volcanoes:

    http://www.springerlink.com/content/w38x506802g633q5/

    Abstract
    Seismic energy release during the precursory, eruptive and declining stages of volcanic activities provides various information about the mechanisms of volcanic eruptions and the temporary developments of their activities. Hitherto the energy release patterns from precursory earthquake swarms were used to predict the eruption times, especially of andesitic or dacitic volcanoes. In this paper the discussion is expanded to quantify the total amount of seismic energy released at the threshold of volcanic eruptions, with reference to the results observed at several volcanoes. The results generally indicate that the cumulative seismic energy release from the precursory earthquake swarms exceed 101718ergs before eruptions at any andesitic or dacitic volvanoes. This allows the seismic efficiency, or the ratio of energy radiated seismically, and the energy required for the volumetric expansion to be estimated by incorporating available deformation data with the seismic data. The dependency of seismic efficiency on the type of volcanic activity, i. e. non-explosive outbreaks, phreatic and magmatic eruptions, dome formation, etc., was evaluated from observations at a few volcanoes that provided a variety of examples.

    @all:

    Oh Boy, a few more hours of reading to do ;-0

  10. E.M.Smith says:
    6 February 2012 at 9:25 pm

    @Oliver:

    I think this ties in with the links that Adolfo posted… that Piers Corbin link is fascinating:

    WeatherAction’s prediction (Right) of Earth-facing coronal holes* to appear on the sun at the start of February and these to trigger both major earthquakes (probably in Southern Hemisphere) and significant weather front activity has been superbly confirmed. (*announced 27 Jan under new SLAT7)

    The coronal holes appeared on cue across the centre of the solar disc on Feb 1st – as reported by Spaceweather.com http://bit.ly/xeJiVV . A Major earthquake then hit Vanuatu, South Pacific on Feb 2nd (M7.1 – the largest in the world for 3 weeks) and many aftershocks followed. All quakes larger than M5 on Feb 2nd were in the Southern Hemisphere. Significant weather events expected by WeatherAction – driven by the top level solar effects in our ‘R5’ Red warning – also appeared on cue such as an icy easterly blast in Italy in our Euromaps forecast and exacerbation of snow deluges in North New England USA.

    Weather starts 93 million miles away not in a computer Piers Corbyn, astrophysicist and originator of the Solar Lunar Action Technique which forms his forecasting process said: “This is a tremendous advance. The timing of the emergence and position of the Coronal Holes, the major quake and extreme weather events were all spot-on. It is clear that major quake events and weather extreme events and events such as Jet stream shifts are powered or triggered by solar activity – such as the fast solar wind emitted from Coronal holes.”

  12. adolfogiurfa says:
    6 February 2012 at 9:59 pm

    I gave these links at T3 where you can see how the Sun really works:
    An Electric Universe?

    PDF version:
    http://www.mediafire.com/?dt0gc4xbmxzc2bz

  13. R. de Haan says:
    7 February 2012 at 12:03 am

    Heavy quake Swarm Negros Phillipine Islands
    Big chance these quakes are related to the Negros Islands volcanic belt as quake depth varies from 46.6 to 10 km.
    http://www.iris.edu/dms/seismon.htm

    Also See:
    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/02/05/earthquakes-list-february-6-2012/

    Last 2 Weeks of Earthquakes
    (within 10 degrees of LON=123.36, LAT=9.84)

    DATE links are into the IRIS WILBER system where you can see seismograms and request datasets.

    DATE and TIME (UTC) LAT-ITUDE LONG-ITUDE MAG-NITUDE DEPTH km REGION
    06-FEB-2012 22:35:13 9.84 123.36 4.6 10.0 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 11:40:19 9.84 123.04 5.2 36.5 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 11:33:37 9.80 123.05 6.0 15.1 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 10:10:24 9.84 123.13 6.2 35.4 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 10:10:24 9.84 123.13 4.7 35.4 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 10:10:24 9.83 123.13 6.2 35.4 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 04:03:26 9.89 123.29 4.8 21.3 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 03:49:16 9.96 123.25 6.8 46.6 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 03:49:16 9.96 123.25 5.3 46.6 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
    06-FEB-2012 03:49:16 9.96 123.25 6.8 46.6 NEGROS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

  14. R. de Haan says:
    7 February 2012 at 12:11 am

    First reports about people killed due to collapsed buildings after the first 6.8 quake took place.
    http://business-standard.com/india/news/44-killed-in-philippine-earthquake/157230/on

  15. E.M.Smith says:
    7 February 2012 at 4:52 am

    We’ve got 3 @ 6.x and not a lot of time between them. This may not be over yet. We need ramping down smaller aftershocks before it’s OK to call it done…

    I expect we’ll be seeing some volcano or other before this is all over (that is, this solar slow cycle)…

    I note in passing that California is over 400 on that map and they are distributed rather broadly, including out into the volcanic areas… (though we’re only likely to get minor volcanic activity if anything, IMHO.)

  17. Scarlet Pumpernickel says:
    7 February 2012 at 6:45 am

    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77099&src=eorss-nh I was here in September, it’s an amazing place…

  18. Pascvaks says:
    7 February 2012 at 1:04 pm

    FYI-
    Graph of annual “quake energy release” since 1900 (mag 6 or >)

    Original weblink to graph at
    http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/other/quake1.html
    (Number of Earthquakes by Year, 1970-2010/2011)

    PS: Thanks for help EM on earlier request, above.

  19. E.M.Smith says:
    7 February 2012 at 5:50 pm

    @Pascvaks:

    You’re welcome!

    An ‘eyeball’ of that top graph looks like a match to the ‘cold 70s’ and like an inverse of sunspots… as a first guess..

  20. Pascvaks says:
    7 February 2012 at 7:45 pm

    Meee… meee.. meeeeee!

    “Something’s happening here
    What it is ain’t exactly clear…

    “I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
    Everybody look what’s going down…”

    (Sounds like an old song;-)

  22. adolfogiurfa says:
    7 February 2012 at 8:13 pm

    Still trembling the GMF:
    http://flux.phys.uit.no/cgi-bin/plotgeodata.cgi?Last24&site=tro2a&amp
    How does this relate with earthquakes?: M.Vukcevic has the answer:
    http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/gms.htm
    and also watch the “coronal holes”:
    http://www.solen.info/solar/

  23. MichaelM says:
    15 February 2012 at 3:03 am

    5.6 in northern california the other day, not sure if it already got mentioned

  24. E.M.Smith says:
    15 February 2012 at 9:26 am

    @MichaelM:

    Thanks, I’d missed that one. Looks like a 6.0 off the coast of Oregon today, too.

    Not liking this slow build up of number and size. Not liking it at all…

    Magnitude 6.0 – OFF THE COAST OF OREGON
    2012 February 15 03:31:20 UTC

    Earthquake Details
    This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 6.0
    Date-Time Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 03:31:20 UTC
    Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 07:31:20 PM at epicenter
    Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 43.536°N, 127.381°W
    Depth 10 km (6.2 miles)
    Region OFF THE COAST OF OREGON
    Distances 256 km (159 miles) W of Coos Bay, Oregon
    293 km (182 miles) WSW of Newport, Oregon
    302 km (187 miles) NW of Brookings, Oregon
    380 km (236 miles) WSW of SALEM, Oregon
    Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 19.7 km (12.2 miles); depth +/- 6.2 km (3.9 miles)
    Parameters NST=205, Nph=211, Dmin=282.8 km, Rmss=1.15 sec, Gp=180°,
    M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6
    Source Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Event ID usb00080ib

    The particulars for that California Quake are:

    Magnitude 5.6 – NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
    2012 February 13 21:07:02 UTC

    Earthquake Details
    This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 5.6
    Date-Time Monday, February 13, 2012 at 21:07:02 UTC
    Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:07:02 PM at epicenter
    Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 41.143°N, 123.790°W
    Depth 28.2 km (17.5 miles)
    Region NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
    Distances 9 km (5 miles) SW (234°) from Weitchpec, CA
    28 km (17 miles) NNW (343°) from Willow Creek, CA
    29 km (18 miles) ENE (67°) from Westhaven-Moonstone, CA
    50 km (31 miles) NE (38°) from Eureka, CA
    349 km (217 miles) NW (326°) from Sacramento, CA
    Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.4 km (0.2 miles); depth +/- 1.2 km (0.7 miles)
    Parameters Nph= 47, Dmin=20 km, Rmss=0.27 sec, Gp= 72°,
    M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=8
    Source California Integrated Seismic Net:
    USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR

    Event ID nc71734741

    That is just a ways inland from the point where the major Cascadia fault heads out to sea..

    At this point, I’d not plan any visits to the area from Oregon to British Columbia if I could avoid them (within about 50 miles of the coast) and if I lived in that area, I’d be reviewing my emergency kits, bugout bags, escape routes, etc.

    (No, that’s not a prediction, it is just my usual checklist for preparedness when I get increasing number and size of quakes where I live. One of this times is WILL be the big one, and you will not know in advance, so it’s better to just gas up the car, buy some groceries, and check on the disaster kits every so often, doing it when a minor swarm starts a ramp is as good a time as any – and it always IS possible that this ramp keeps on, well, ramping… But the next step up from a 6 is a 7, and things start to break then… so if it DOES ramp, well, this is ‘last call’ to prep before things break…)

  26. R. de Haan says:
    15 February 2012 at 6:20 pm

    @E.M.Smith (09:26:49) :

    What’s really problematic is the fact that these were very shallow quakes.

    Lots of devastation when the bigger events hit.

  27. R. de Haan says:
    15 February 2012 at 10:13 pm

    Enormous increase in earthquakes in Japan:
    From the report:
    “The subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the Okhotsk plate
    causes intense seismicity in the Northeastern (NE) Japan arc.
    there were only 1215 crustal events recorded by the dense Japanese seismic network during 3 June 2002 to 11 March 2011, whereas the
    number was increased to 24 108 following the Tohoku-oki
    mainshock till 27 October 2011, including 23 crustal earth-
    quakes with M ≥ 5.0”

    http://www.solid-earth.net/3/43/2012/se-3-43-2012.pdf

  28. E.M.Smith says:
    16 February 2012 at 2:05 am

    @R. de Haan

    The larger the quake, the larger and longer the aftershocks. As the last one was Way Big, it would be expected to produce thousands of aftershocks for a very long time.

    Still, it is likely to be part of a longer term ramp up.

  29. E.M.Smith says:
    25 February 2012 at 10:35 pm

    Well, the Asia side of the Pacific looks like it’s ‘lit up’ with a bunch of modest sized quakes spread all over the arc. Puerto Rico and Hawaii look to be having quake clusters (volcanoes waking up anyone?)

    But the one that surprised me most was this one in Canada!

    Magnitude 4.0 – ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY REG., QUEBEC, CANADA
    2012 February 24 22:47:22 UTC

    Earthquake Details
    This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 4.0
    Date-Time Friday, February 24, 2012 at 22:47:22 UTC
    Friday, February 24, 2012 at 05:47:22 PM at epicenter
    Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 47.615°N, 70.220°W
    Depth 4.2 km (2.6 miles) (poorly constrained)
    Region ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY REG., QUEBEC, CANADA
    Distances 56 km (34 miles) WSW of Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec, Canada
    103 km (64 miles) NW of Dickey, Maine
    110 km (68 miles) SE of Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada
    486 km (301 miles) ENE of OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada
    Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 15.3 km (9.5 miles); depth +/- 7.4 km (4.6 miles)
    Parameters Nph= 0, Dmin=0 km, Rmss=1.46 sec, Gp= 0,
    M-type=”Nuttli” surface wave magnitude (mbLg), Version=4
    Source Magnitude: Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
    Location: Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
    Event ID usb00085ls

    Quebec? Really? QUEBEC? Near the St. Lawrence?

    Who Knew?…

    Then there was a cluster of 3 ‘little ones’ where the Cascadia system starts up as it leaves the California Coast, including one on the edge of “medium”…

    Magnitude 4.3 – NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
    2012 February 25 05:17:15 UTC

    This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 4.3
    Date-Time Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 05:17:15 UTC
    Friday, February 24, 2012 at 09:17:15 PM at epicenter
    Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 40.286°N, 124.323°W
    Depth 20 km (12.4 miles)
    Region NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
    Distances 5 km (3 miles) SW (217°) from Petrolia, CA
    30 km (19 miles) SW (218°) from Rio Dell, CA
    33 km (20 miles) S (189°) from Ferndale, CA
    58 km (36 miles) SSW (194°) from Eureka, CA
    312 km (194 miles) NW (309°) from Sacramento, CA
    Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 1.3 km (0.8 miles); depth +/- 0.7 km (0.4 miles)
    Parameters Nph= 16, Dmin=4 km, Rmss=0.17 sec, Gp=194°,
    M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6
    Source California Integrated Seismic Net:
    USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR
    Event ID nc71741671

    That California map, near the bottom, has been running at “Over 400” for a while now (presently at 419) and with a lot of the activity clearly ‘inland’ on the rift zone near the Basin and Range / Nevada / Death Valley / Salton Sea or over on the “Calaveras / Hayward” system.

    It’s looking like areas that are sort of “rift like” on our side of the ocean are taking activity while subduction areas on the Asia side are most active, and sporadic volcanic area scattered from Tonga to Hawaii to Italy to Japan are beginning ‘early throat clearing’. Or maybe I’m just projecting a bit too far…

    Also, Christchurch took another ‘aftershock’…

    Magnitude 4.3 – SOUTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND
    2012 February 25 10:27:19 UTC

    Earthquake Details
    This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 4.3
    Date-Time Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 10:27:19 UTC
    Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 11:27:19 PM at epicenter
    Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 43.459°S, 172.964°E
    Depth 10.3 km (6.4 miles)
    Region SOUTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND
    Distances 25 km (15 miles) ENE of Christchurch, New Zealand
    220 km (136 miles) SSE of Westport, New Zealand
    283 km (175 miles) SSW of WELLINGTON, New Zealand
    331 km (205 miles) NE of Dunedin, New Zealand
    Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 10.4 km (6.5 miles); depth +/- 5 km (3.1 miles)
    Parameters NST= 19, Nph= 26, Dmin=30.1 km, Rmss=1.04 sec, Gp=180°,
    M-type=local magnitude (ML), Version=5
    Source Magnitude: Inst. of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
    Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Event ID usb00085rm

    With a larger one off toward Tonga / Fiji up north…

    Magnitude 5.1 – SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
    2012 February 25 05:06:23 UTC

    Earthquake Details
    This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 5.1
    Date-Time Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 05:06:23 UTC
    Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 05:06:23 PM at epicenter
    Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 25.551°S, 179.547°E
    Depth 519.6 km (322.9 miles)
    Region SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
    Distances 482 km (299 miles) NNW of Raoul Island, Kermadec Islands
    571 km (354 miles) SSW of Ndoi Island, Fiji
    726 km (451 miles) SW of NUKU`ALOFA, Tonga
    1334 km (828 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand
    Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 17.9 km (11.1 miles); depth +/- 10.4 km (6.5 miles)
    Parameters NST=213, Nph=223, Dmin=479.8 km, Rmss=0.77 sec, Gp= 54°,
    M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=9
    Source Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Event ID usb00085p3

    Something is just ‘different’ about things now, compared to a few years back…

    Reminds me soft of, of things I’d read about the 1800’s with more ‘active’ islands (images of tropical islands with smoking volcanoes comes to mind)…

  30. E.M.Smith says:
    26 February 2012 at 7:45 pm

    The California map is up to a 428 count, so rising numbers.

    Then there was this cluster on the Mongolia / Russia border with a nice sized main quake:

    Magnitude 6.7 – SOUTHWESTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
    2012 February 26 06:17:19 UTC

    Earthquake Details
    This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.Magnitude 6.7
    Date-Time Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 06:17:19 UTC
    Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 01:17:19 PM at epicenter
    Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
    Location 51.731°N, 95.921°E
    Depth 11.7 km (7.3 miles)
    Region SOUTHWESTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
    Distances 101 km (62 miles) E of Kyzyl, Russia
    333 km (206 miles) NE of Ulaangom, Mongolia
    375 km (233 miles) SE of Abakan, Russia
    3758 km (2335 miles) ENE of MOSCOW, Russia
    Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 14 km (8.7 miles); depth +/- 5.9 km (3.7 miles)
    Parameters NST=578, Nph=578, Dmin=534.3 km, Rmss=0.8 sec, Gp= 18°,
    M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7
    Source Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
    Event ID usb0008672

Comments are closed.