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
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
Here is a static image of what I’m seeing now:
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
A Static capture at the moment of the posting:
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
Australia / New Zealand
This is a live map of the Australia / Indonesia / New Zealand area:

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
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 from 8 to 30 days ago

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
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
Original Image with Clickable Details
Northern Hemisphere

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
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
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:
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…
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
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.
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!;-)
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:
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:
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
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
@Paskvaks: Earthquakes and geomagnetic storms:
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/gms.htm
BTW:
http://flux.phys.uit.no/cgi-bin/plotgeodata.cgi?Last24&site=tro2a&
Adolfo –

Trying to fill the middle of this graph; Or, a piece of the more recent part of the graph;-)
@Pascvaks:
Search on “Earthquake cumulative energy” as in slide 17 here:
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/
@all:
Oh Boy, a few more hours of reading to do ;-0
@Oliver:
I think this ties in with the links that Adolfo posted… that Piers Corbin link is fascinating:
@E.M.:
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
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
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
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.)
http://earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/recent/maps-cartes/index-eng.php?tpl_region=west
Cascadia about to pop?
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77099&src=eorss-nh I was here in September, it’s an amazing place…
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.
@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..
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;-)
Negros latest
http://earthquake-report.com/2012/02/06/very-strong-earthquake-close-to-la-libertad-negros/
Still trembling the GMF:
http://flux.phys.uit.no/cgi-bin/plotgeodata.cgi?Last24&site=tro2a&
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/
5.6 in northern california the other day, not sure if it already got mentioned
@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…)
http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/6-0-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-off-the-coast-of-oregon/
@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.
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”
@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.
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)…
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