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|  | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #91 on Apr 23, 2005, 12:51am » | |
Mega volcano threatens Sumatra islands
4/18/2005 10:53:00 PM GMT
Volcanic ashes forced thousands of people in Sumatra Islands flea the active volcanic region, currently experiencing harmonic tremor and other signs of an imminent mega volcano in that region soon.
Recent series of volcanoes in the same area are alarming, and has made many geologists run to their computer model seeking clues and validation of facts.
Toba in Sumatra experienced the massive volcano of VEI 8.0 – super volcano 74,000 years back.
The deep Java trench marks the line where the Indo-Australian plate subducts, i.e. slips under, the section of the Eurasian plate on which Indonesia sits.
According to computer models, somewhere near Toba, another super volcano is getting ready for eruption. 3.1 mile sinking of Indo-Australian plate under the Eurasian Plate in the last 74,000 years has created enough magma for a super volcano.
Volcanic activities in the region during the past week have signaled an imminent mega volcano a sort of repeat of what happened 74,000 years back. It is noteworthy that this area is just on the opposite side in the globe from the “Yellow Stone Hot Spot” in America.
Experts say that if a mega volcano erupts in Sumatra of VEI 8.0, ashes will engulf the whole world with serious reparation on livelihood, agriculture and weather, causing a real catastrophe to our civilization. Last time it erupted, it wiped out almost 75% of all living beings on the land surface on the earth.
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_se....service_id=7819
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"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #92 on Apr 23, 2005, 12:53am » | |
Hazardous effects of super-eruptions:
http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/template.cfm?name=Super4
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #93 on May 2, 2005, 8:47am » | |
Spate Of Giant Earthquakes Feared
The Australian
5-2-5
The Indonesian earthquake behind the Boxing Day tsunami that killed 300,000 people could be the first of a series of giant quakes that will rock the world in the next 10 to 15 years, scientists have warned. The Mediterranean is among areas at high risk, particularly the coasts of Greece and Turkey, both popular tourist destinations. The scientists are urging the installation of a tsunami warning system there as a matter of urgency.
They found that quakes such as the one in Indonesia can destabilise the whole of the earth's crust, so that one is followed by others, often thousands of kilometres away, within a few years.
"The four biggest earthquakes of the 20th century all happened within 12 years of each other, a pattern we see repeated with other quakes over many decades," said Vladimir Kossobokov of the International Institute of Earthquake Prediction in Moscow.
"It is highly likely that we will see several more on the scale of the Indonesian event in the next few years."
The series of four last century that exceeded magnitude 9 on the Richter scale began with a quake in 1952 in Kamchatka, in the far east of Russia.
It generated a tsunami that flooded coastlines all over the Pacific.
Another hit the Andreanof Islands in Alaska in 1957, generating a 15m-high tsunami that hit ports from California to Japan.
The biggest and most destructive quake hit Chile three years later, killing more than 2000 people and producing a 23m-high tsunami that caused chaos across the Pacific.
The last of the cluster hit Alaska in 1964, killing 130.
Professor Kossobokov released his research at last week's annual meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, alongside a separate study into the history of tsunamis around Europe.
That study, by Stefano Tinti, professor of geophysics at Bologna university, found that at least 232 tsunamis had hit Europe since prehistoric times.
"Many of them were so powerful that they altered the course of civilisation," Professor Tinti said.
Copyright 2005 News Limited.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15148396-401,00.html
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #94 on May 11, 2005, 7:35am » | |
Yellowstone Caldera Rated 'High Risk' For Eruption
5-10-5
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) - The Yellowstone caldera has been classified a high threat for volcanic eruption, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Yellowstone ranks 21st most dangerous of the 169 volcano centers in the United States, according to the Geological Survey's first-ever comprehensive review of the nation's volcanoes.
Kilauea in Hawaii received the highest overall threat score followed by Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainer in Washington, Mount Hood in Oregon and Mount Shasta in California.
Kilauea has been erupting since 1983. Mount St. Helens, which erupted catastrophically in 1980, began venting again in 2004.
Those volcanoes fall within the very high threat group, which includes 18 systems. Yellowstone is classified with 36 others as high threat.
Recurring earthquake swarms, swelling and falling ground, and changes in hydrothermal features are cited in the report as evidence of unrest at Yellowstone.
The report calls for better monitoring of the 55 volcanoes in the very high and high threat categories to track seismic activity, ground bulging, gas emissions and hydrologic changes.
University of Utah geology professor Robert Smith, who monitors earthquakes and volcanic activity in Yellowstone, said more real-time monitoring should be helpful.
"We've really been stressing over the last couple of years that the USGS should consider hazards as a very high priority in their future," he said. "We need to get the public's confidence and the perception that we're doing it right."
The university has joined the Geological Survey and Yellowstone National Park in creating the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, which uses ground-based instruments throughout the region and satellite data to monitor volcanic and earthquake unrest in the world's first national park.
The USGS report recognizes Yellowstone as an unusual hazard because of the millions of people who visit the park and walk amid features created by North America's largest volcanic system, Smith said, a status he has been advocating for years.
Smith does not paint the devastating picture portrayed in a recent TV docudrama but said smaller threats exist. For example, a lower-scale hydrothermal blast could scald tourists strolling along boardwalks.
Emissions of toxic gases from the park's geothermal features also pose a threat. Five bison dropped dead last year after inhaling poisonous gases trapped near the ground due to cold, calm weather near Norris Geyser Basin.
Stepped up monitoring and a new 24-hour watch office could lead to more timely warnings and help avoid human catastrophes at Yellowstone and nationally, according to the USGS.
Forty-five eruptions, including 15 cases of notable volcanic unrest, have been documented at 33 volcanoes in the U.S. since 1980, according to the report, released April 29.
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #95 on May 14, 2005, 6:25am » | |
Remarkable isn't it - a 6.9 seaquake is news but 6.4 on 10/05/2005 doesn't rate a mention:
Indonesia sea quake sparks panic
An underwater quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale has rocked the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, triggering panic but causing no damage, officials say.
Indonesia's meteorological and geophysical agency said a tsunami was unlikely because the tremor was too far from the earth's surface.
The epicentre was reportedly 50km west of the city of Padang, west Sumatra, and struck at 1205 (0505 GMT).
Locals across the island fled from their homes, but nobody was injured.
"There is no tsunami due to the quake because it was a deep one under the sea," Reuters news agency quoted seismologist Rinto Nadjiono from the quake centre in the capital Jakarta as saying.
"But the shake was felt quite strong in Padang and Nias although there is no report of damage."
Hundreds of residents of the remote island of Nias were killed on 28 March by a 8.7 quake.
Aftershocks have hit Indonesia, particularly Sumatra, since the 26 December quake that triggered a deadly tsunami across the region.
At least 126,000 people died in the country, and some coastal villages in the Aceh province lost more than 70% of their inhabitants.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4546599.stm
Published: 2005/05/14 07:00:07 GMT
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #96 on May 23, 2005, 5:39am » | |
Recent Quakes, Violent
Weather In
Southern Hemisphere
By Harry Mason, Geologist
orbitx@bigpond.com
5-22-5
Earth Expansion tectonics is the most logical explanation for a variety of geological phenomenon - especially the Indonesian Arc quake upsurge. This area is actually an expansion site - like the mid Atlantic rift - involving continental rather than oceanic crust. Extra plates are created by this expansion mechanism as needed by breakup of older plates and subduction zones do NOT need to exist - nor do they exist in fact.
The reality is that *vertical* diapiric movements caused the 9.3 Richter quake AND the subsequent tsunamis. Simply put, extant "Plate Tectonic" theory involving subduction zones and a static radius Earth is BULLsh_t - it got broke decades ago but the geo-establishment are desperate to keep their Holy Cow alive - hence the ludicrous "official" explanations coming out regarding the Indon Arc events.
Here in the antipodean Southern Hemisphere we have been and are experiencing VERY odd weather over the last few weeks. Examples: Heavy rain in South Africa (Jo'Burg) during May = first time in memory. Heavy rain in Western Australia during May = unusually VERY high unseasonal and anomalous rainfall. Violent electrical storms - last Sunday we had fantastic electrical storms with cyclonic wind speeds and multiple tornadoes that created HUGE damage across Perth region (NEVER EVER SEEN BEFORE IN 175 years of EUROPEAN AUSTRALIAN MEMORY).
Last night, yet more VERY violent electrical storms and HUGE rainfall hit Fremantle - lots of damage. Last week heavy electrical storms hit Queensland delivering LOADS of hail ice plus creating lots of damage. Also last week North Island New Zealand got hit with HUGE electric rain storms that caused many landslides - declared state of emergency - an entire village slid to its doom. Whilst in Chile a few days ago dozens of young soldiers froze to death in VERY abnormal blizzards.
We also had a 4.7 Richter quake at Port Headland (North coast WA - opposite Indonesia)last week.
(Note - There is recorded eyewitness evidence of a volcanic eruption somewhere near Port Headland on OZ mainland at the time of the Krakatoa event in 1883 ..... No geological ground evidence reported but mapping up there is fairly rudimentary and only regional in nature.)
It is likely that Earth Expansion processes and our recent Violent Weather events are driven by increased electrical outflow originating from the Sun as CME's and ionic Birkland current discharges. These ionic electron flows then cascade through the Solar Capacitor space as "solar wind". The energy flow hits the Earth's Magnetosphere and compresses it violently down towards the planet before cascading via the Earth's Ionospheric capacitor to the Earth's "ground". In the process, Cyclones and Tornadoes are created in the atmosphere due to rotating electric current discharge between the Upper Ionosphere and Earth ground capacitor plates.
The compression of the Earth's Magnetosphere causes massive feedback EMF "HUM" in the Earth EM environment. Just bring a magnet close to an operating electric motor to see this on the micro scale. Such EMF energy deep within the Earth can easily trigger quakes in stressed zones etc. The electric energy inflow does not stop at Earth "ground" it continues down into the mantle and then to the core via the Earth Internal Capacitor layers.
I (and others) believe the Earth's core is an ionic plasma of simple atomic species (H, He etc) under great confining pressure and that the return current circuit from Earth to Sun is via the Vacuum Point ie. energy flows from the center of the Earth back to the center of the Sun via a mechanism akin to the Tom Bearden Vacuum Engineering concepts. Tom and others are working to score electric energy directly from the Vacuum. NB. the SUN in Electric Universe theory is a Tesla Electric Fire NOT a nuclear reaction. Also under Electrical Universe theory Black Holes are NOT necessary. Comets are plasmas developed on oppositely charged (to the Sun) rocky asteroids that light up as they enter into range of the Solar capacitor
.........
The Vacuum is a common "ground" if you like. It links the Sun and the Earth via their core points. In fact Tom Bearden has noted that most human engineer electric circuit designs suffer from a two wire current return format that actually destroys the vacuum energy component seen in nature.
(It would appear that nature utilises this vacuum electric mechanism on a grand scale to drive and create galaxies, suns, and planets. The mechanism also leads to the creation of many planetary surface geological phenomenon. Tesla was able to duplicate part of the mechanism and send electric energy flow without wires as longitudinal HF waves from "grounded" terminal to "grounded" terminal.....)
I suspect when big enough the energy inflow from the Sun creates Earth core plasma expansionary cycles which rapidly cause surface expansion along well defined tectonic zones - eg: the Indonesia Arc - a mixture of vertical magma intrusion from the core-mantle boundary and quakes due to upwelling and splitting apart of outer crustal layers.....
Note: magma = a viscous ionic plasma of more evolved atomic species Fe Mag Si etc. = a derivative of the simpler core plasma, ie. alchemy is probably alive and well inside the Earth !!!)
Be that as it may, the 9.3 R quake, etc, ARE symptomatic of deeper longer term cycles at work. Past Earth History suggests this Earth Expansion is potentially cataclysmic and periodic = integrated overlapping long cycles of many wave lengths varying upwards from ~3,500 years, through ~12,000 years, and out to ~52 million years etc.
BUT I cannot say if this current Indonesia Arc - Southern Hemisphere scenario WILL get worse or die down. However, my suspicion, based upon the quake pattern and Indon Volcanic cycle history, is WORSE with MORE violent weather AND severe quake & volcanic explosive events.
By the way, the "WHY" on the Suns solar energy output changes is NOT fully understood BUT energy waves from Galactic Central are prime candidates for the driving force behind all of this.
Of course why Galactic Central roars is another unknown. Perhaps the Universe shudders every so often. Or, the finger of GOD has pointed our way...
Best Regards,
Harry Mason
Perth
Western Australia
-----Original Message-----
From: Yoichi Shimatsu
Sent: Saturday, 21 May 2005
To: Harry Mason
Subject: science mag
Harry, I'm interested in your readings of the Science magazine special on the tsunami. saw an article today summarizing the new issue of Science, focused on the tsunami.
Notable points about the article, as I have not yet seen the Science issue:
1. The geologists finally admit that sudden UPLIFT caused the "tsunami", which could be better classified as a sea rise.
2. But they concluded it was caused by downward pressure by Indo-Australian plate on European plate causing a springback.
3. Use of term Indo-Australian Plate in this article indicates that they seem oblivious to the splitting of the plate into two separate plates, Indian and Australian, making 13 crustal plates on planet not 12 anymore.
4. Roger Bilham of Colorado, the Englishman-turned-American, with his usual hype... is he geology's biggest con man?
5. Mentioned the huge number of temblors following the tsunami, finally.
6. No mention of the Burmese micro-plate in all this, or previous studies, or oil exploration...but this was a short article.
7. The entire plate tectonic theory is being pressed into service by twisting it beyond the breaking point (pun intended) . . . wouldn't a better explanation be the inbalance within the Earth's core, related to planetary wobble? That the "tsunami" and "quake" were merely symptomatic of deeper and longer term cycles at work?
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #97 on May 27, 2005, 11:37am » | |
New Method For Imaging Dec. 26 Indian Ocean Earthquake Yields Unprecedented Results
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, in collaboration with scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed a new method for imaging how the earth ruptured during the quake, which is providing a fresh perspective of the massive event. In this method, the scientists use the first-arriving seismic waves generated by an earthquake to produce detailed images within 30 minutes of an event, a development that could have implications for public-warning and tsunami-alert systems.
The details are described by Scripps' Miaki Ishii and Peter Shearer and UCLA's Heidi Houston, professor-in-residence in UCLA's Earth and Space Sciences department and John Vidale, UCLA professor of Earth and Space Sciences, and interim director of UCLA's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, in the May 22 online edition of the journal Nature.
The authors present a method that traces seismic waves back to their original rupture source. In the case of the Sumatra-Andaman event, they used the Japanese Hi-Net array, consisting of about 700 high-quality seismometers, as antennae to track the seismic sources.
![[image]](http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2005/05/050526092730.jpg "[image]")
Seismologists are using new methods to detail the processes that unfolded during the event, known as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. (Image courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
"If you were at a pond and dropped a pebble, you would see a ripple appear in the water. If another person only saw the ripple, they could still probably guess where you dropped the pebble by tracing the rings back to the center. That's exactly what we are doing. We are looking at how the ring of seismic waves is approaching the array to find out where the rupture is occurring," said Ishii, the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Scholar at Scripps. For the Dec. 26 event, the scientists obtained a series of rupture points progressing from south to north in the Sumatra-Andaman region. Called "back projection," the method is not unlike those used to find sources of oil and gas and by astronomers to image distant galaxies.
"It's similar to some ideas that have been used in the past, but as far as we know it's the first time that it has been applied to directly image the rupture of a large earthquake," said Shearer, a professor in the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Scripps.
The resulting images from the Sumatra-Andaman event paint a detailed picture (see video animation above right), starting at an epicenter just west of northern Sumatra. A powerful burst of rupture energy is seen 80 seconds later as the quake progresses northwest. A second significant burst occurs after another 220 seconds, west of the Car Nicobar region. The entire event lasts for about eight minutes and ends at the northern Andaman archipelago.
The new findings also show that the event extends father north than initially reported. At 500 seconds and 1,300 kilometers, the Sumatra-Andaman event is longer than the three other largest recorded earthquakes: the 1957 Aleutian earthquake, the 1960 Chile earthquake and the 1964 Alaskan earthquake.
"Our model provides the most detailed view to date of rupture propagation in a great earthquake," Vidale said.
"The enormous dimensions involved made this event the best candidate in decades for an in-depth look at the rupture and slip in an earthquake," said Houston.
Because their method capitalizes on an earthquake's first-arriving seismic energy, called "P waves," the authors say their model could be implemented in a real-time system in which an accurate estimate of the length and duration of great earthquakes could be obtained within 20 to 30 minutes of the earthquake initiation.
The scientists note that the method's performance depends on the distance of the seismic array from an earthquake.
"The existing global seismic network could provide enough information to produce useful results for earthquakes anywhere in the world," said Shearer. "This would give people a much faster idea of the size and extent of large earthquakes. We are trying to work with other scientists to develop ways that they could use this method in a worldwide warning system."
The study was supported by the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #98 on May 29, 2005, 10:38am » | |
Earthquake Pushes Up 10 New Islands Near Sumatra
The Asahi Shimbun
5-29-5
(IHT/Asahi) -- The March earthquake that struck near Nias island off Sumatra was so powerful that it created about 10 new islands, Japan's Geographical Survey Institute said.
Researchers, led by Mikio Tobita, spotted the new islets on images taken by the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite, GSI officials said earlier this month.
The March 28 temblor had a magnitude of 8.7, but unlike the Dec. 26 quake off Sumatra, it did not trigger killer tsunami.
GSI researchers said they compared images taken in February with those from April. They found the seabed near the northwestern coast of Nias island upheaved about 2 meters due to crustal movements caused by the quake.
This created about 10 new islands ranging in length from 100 meters to 1.5 kilometers, they said.
The quake also pushed the northwestern coastline out to sea by up to 1 km, they said.
Copyright 2005 The Asahi Shimbun Company. All rights reserved.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200505280121.html
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #99 on Jun 2, 2005, 10:30am » | |
More Seismic Mysteries: Indian volcano spews lava after a decade
New Delhi - India's only active volcano started spewing lava for the first time in 11 years on Tuesday, officials said.
The volcano is located on the uninhabited Barren Island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago that was devastated by last year's tsunami.
The eruption was first spotted by a Coast Guard ship on Saturday, the archipelago's top official DS Negi said.
He said the volcano last erupted in 1994 when the lava flowed into the sea.
"That was a huge eruption, but this one is slightly smaller. The situation is being monitored but there is no threat to marine life as the lava is not flowing into the sea," Negi said.
Barren Island is located 140km north-east of Port Blair, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago that stretches almost to the tip of Sumatra. The crater is 1,6km in diameter, roughly half the area of the island.
The island is home to bats, crabs, rats and several species of birds and goats, the Indian Express newspaper reported. It has a modern history of volcanic activity dating back to 1787.
"We spotted thick black smoke even 10 nautical miles away from the island. When we landed we saw red fireballs every few seconds and fresh lava on the ground," the report quoted Coast Guard commander S Basra as saying.
"In the past we have gone up to the crater. But this time it was so hot that we could not go beyond 50m from the landing site," he said.
India's defence forces were warned to maintain a minimum height of 1 000m when flying over the island.
Two years ago a team of Indian and Italian scientists visited Barren island, which is at the north end of a chain of volcanic islands that extend from the Java-Sumatra region to the north Andaman Sea. The team found fresh water springs on the island.
The Andamans and surrounding region have been rocked by earthquakes since last year's tsunami.
"A steady swarm of earthquakes in a volcanic terrain is a strong indicator of magma movement and a precursor to volcanic eruption," said Indian geologist Dornadula Chandrasekaram, who has visited the island.
"Such earthquakes suggest that the magma, usually confined to depths below 100-200km, is moving upwards," he was quoted as saying. - Sapa-dpa
Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1117532701806B253
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #100 on Jun 6, 2005, 10:01am » | |
Source: National Science Foundation
Date: 2005-06-01
Analysis Of The Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake Reveals Longest Fault Rupture Ever
Three papers published in the May 20 issue of the journal Science by an international group of seismologists provide a comprehensive scientific analysis of the December 2004 and March 2005 earthquakes, and discuss future earthquake potential near Sumatra and the Andaman Islands. The data raise new concerns about the possibility of earthquakes in a region to the southeast of the great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of Dec. 26, 2004, which last experienced a great earthquake in 1833.
![[image]](http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2005/05/050527104756.jpg "[image]")
The shock heard 'round the world.' The December 2004 tsunami-producing earthquake sent reverberations around the world.
The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), a university research consortium, played a central role in these reports. IRIS, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), operates a global network of seismic monitoring stations that provided much of the data for the analysis.
"The extensive seismological data that underlies the scientific results in these papers is a result of the 20-year investment by NSF and the U.S. Geological Survey to develop the Global Seismic Network," said James Whitcomb, section head in NSF's earth sciences division. "This far-flung network of more than 130 seismic sensors, on every continent and all major oceanic islands, provides essential information for earthquake warnings and for research on earthquakes and deep-Earth structure."
The great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake was an event of stunning proportions, both in its human dimensions--nearly 300,000 lives lost--and as a geological phenomenon. The sudden rupture of a huge fault beneath the Indian Ocean unleashed a devastating tsunami. It was the largest earthquake in the past 40 years and was followed by the second largest just three months later on March 28, 2005.
The new analysis gives the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake a seismic magnitude of at least 9.1, and possibly as high as 9.3. Earlier estimates had put it at magnitude 9.0. By comparison, the 1960 earthquake in Chile was magnitude 9.5, and the 1964 Alaska earthquake was magnitude 9.2.
Record-setting features of the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of Dec. 26, 2004, include the longest fault rupture ever observed (720 to 780 miles or 1,200 to 1,300 kilometers) and the longest duration of faulting (at least 10 minutes). The aftershocks included the most energetic earthquake swarm ever observed.
Said Thorne Lay, a geologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, "We've never had such comprehensive data for a great earthquake, because we didn't have the instrumentation to gather it 40 years ago."
Lay is lead author of one of the reports, which provides an overview of the two earthquakes, and is a co-author of a second report, which focuses on the processes involved in the rupture of the fault. A third article describes how the earthquakes caused the whole planet to vibrate with "free oscillations," like the ringing of a bell.
"The research results presented in these papers are major steps forward in our understanding of how great earthquakes happen," said David Simpson, president of IRIS. "With 40 authors from seven countries, the papers are wonderful examples of international scientific collaboration. These results were possible only with the open sharing of data from multi-national sensor networks, and close collaboration among seismologists worldwide."
The two earthquakes are the largest since the global deployment of highly sensitive digital broadband seismometers. These instruments, deployed around the world by IRIS and other organizations, recorded both the huge ground motions from the mainshocks and the tiny motions from small aftershocks and free oscillations of the planet.
The ground motions during the prolonged, intense shaking of the main shock were greater than in any earthquake previously recorded by global broadband seismometers. As far away as Sri Lanka, a thousand miles from the epicenter, the ground moved up and down by more than 3.6 inches (9 centimeters). Ground motions greater than one-half inch, but too gradual to be felt, occurred everywhere on Earth's surface as seismic waves from the event spread around the globe.
During the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, the ground shook more than 100 times harder than it did during the 1989 California Loma Prieta earthquake--a magnitude 6.9 event that caused major destruction from Santa Cruz to the San Francisco Bay.
"Even among seismologists, we call this a monster earthquake," Lay said.
The earthquake took place along the curving boundary between major plates of the Earth's crust, where the Indo-Australian plate plunges beneath the southeastern Eurasian plate in what is called a subduction zone. Before the fault ruptured, the edge of the Eurasian plate was being dragged downward by the descending Indo-Australian plate.
Released by the rupture of the fault, the edge of the plate sprang back up, lifting the ocean floor and setting off the tsunami that inundated coastal areas throughout the Indian Ocean. The fault slipped by as much as 50 feet (15 meters) in places, averaging about 33 feet (10 meters) of displacement along the segment off the northwestern tip of Sumatra where the quake was centered.
"The earthquake rupture ran a distance equivalent to the area from Jacksonville, Fla., to Boston, Mass.," said Charles Ammon, a geoscientist at Penn State University and lead author of one of the reports. "This earthquake lasted just under 10 minutes, while most large earthquakes take only a few seconds."
From the epicenter, the rupture expanded along the fault at a speed of about 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) per second toward the north-northwest. But the initial movement of the fault was much less along the northern segment than in the south. This was fortunate, said Lay, because it spared much of the coastline in the north from the massive tsunami waves that caused the destruction farther south.
Eventually the northern part of the fault slipped about as much as the southern part, uplifting and tilting the Andaman Islands. The tilting of the islands shows that the northern part must have slipped about 33 feet, but much of that slip occurred gradually, without generating seismic waves. "We think that slip was occurring in the northern part for about an hour, well after the 10 minutes of rapid motions were over," Lay said.
Then there were the aftershocks, including the most energetic earthquake swarm ever observed. More than 150 earthquakes of magnitude 5 and greater occurred over a four-day period in late January on faults beneath the Andaman Sea. These faults were activated by the rupture of the main fault along the plate boundary to the west. There were also numerous aftershocks of magnitude 6 and greater throughout the fault zone.
"It's an incredible aftershock series," Lay said. "It is hard to get a feeling for the scale of it. If you take the aftershock zone and superimpose it on California, it completely covers the state."
The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake produced the best documentation of Earth's free oscillations ever recorded, said geologist Jeffrey Park of Yale University, lead author of one of the reports. The free oscillations have natural periods that depend on the composition and temperature of Earth's deep interior. "Just like grocery shoppers thump a watermelon to find out whether it's ripe, seismologists measure the natural tones from earthquakes to detect properties of Earth's deep mantle and core," said Park. "This huge earthquake may resolve several controversies, such as whether a heavy slagheap of old tectonic plates is stuck near the core-mantle boundary beneath Africa."
The March 28, 2005, earthquake struck with a magnitude of 8.6 on an adjacent portion of the plate boundary to the southeast. This was not an aftershock, but a new rupture of an adjacent segment of the fault.
There is the potential for future major earthquakes not only on the thrust fault along the plate boundary, said Lay, but also on a related fault system beneath the island of Sumatra that involves horizontal shearing, the same type of faulting that occurs on the San Andreas Fault.
"The Sumatra Fault runs right down the length of the island. Because it is close to major population centers, the seismic hazard is significant even for a smaller event," Lay said.
Major faults elsewhere in the world--in northern Turkey, for example--have experienced sequences of earthquakes moving progressively along a fault line.
"When one part of the fault slides, that loads up the adjacent region and transfers stress. So you have a heightened potential for earthquakes on the adjacent section. The concern is that something like this could happen in Sumatra," Lay said.
The three papers published this week in Science and their authors are as follows:
"The Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of 26 December 2004"
Thorne Lay (UC Santa Cruz), Hiroo Kanamori (California Insitute of Technology), Charles Ammon (Pennsylvania State University), Meredith Nettles (Harvard University), Steven Ward (UCSC), Richard Aster (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology), Susan Beck (University of Arizona), Susan Bilek (New Mexico Tech), Michael Brudzinski (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Rhett Butler (IRIS), Heather DeShon (UW-Madison), Goran Ekstrom (Harvard), Kenji Satake (Geological Survey of Japan), Stuart Sipkin (U.S. Geological Survey)
"Rupture Process of the Great 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake"
Charles Ammon (Penn State), Ji Chen (Caltech), Hong-Kie Thio (URS Corp.), David Robinson (University of Oxford), Sidao Ni (University of Science and Technology of China), Vala Hjorleifsdottir (Caltech), Hiroo Kanamori (Caltech), Thorne Lay (UCSC), Samita Das (Oxford), Don Helmberger (Caltech), Gene Ichinose (URS Corp.), Jascha Polet (UC Santa Barbara), David Wald (USGS)
"Excitation of Earth's Free Oscillations by the 26 December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake"
Jeffrey Park (Yale University), Teh-Ru Alex Song (Caltech), Jeroen Tromp (Caltech), Emile Okal (Northwestern University), Seth Stein (Northwestern), Genevieve Roult (IPGP, Paris), Eric Clevede (IPGP), Gabi Laske (UC San Diego), Hiroo Kanamori (Caltech), Peter Davis (UCSD), Jon Berger (UCSD), Carla Braitenberg (University of Trieste), Michel Van Camp (Royal Observatory of Belgium), Xiang'e Lei, Heping Sun, and Houze Xu (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Severine Rosat (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #101 on Jun 10, 2005, 11:14am » | |
Indonesia Faces New Mega-Tsunami
By David Adam
Science Correspondent
The Guardian - UK
6-9-5
Another catastrophic giant earthquake similar to the one that caused carnage across the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day last year is lurking off Indonesia, say scientists.
Recent seismic activity in the region has piled dangerous levels of stress onto a section of the Sunda trench fault zone west of Sumatra. This makes a large earthquake there far more likely and could trigger another devastating tsunami.
The warning comes from a team of seismologists at the University of Ulster in Coleraine. Professor John McCloskey, who led the research, said: "This is a very scary event we're concerned about. The potential for a devastating tsunami from it is significant and real. I hope it doesn't happen, but the indications are really strong that it will, maybe even soon."
Giant earthquakes can raise stress in surrounding rocks, making other seismic slips more likely. In March the Ulster group looked at the effects of the Boxing Day event and predicted another giant earthquake would strike the region. Less than two weeks later, on March 28, an adjacent region of the fault gave way. The magnitude 8.7 earthquake killed an estimated 2,000 people, mainly on the island of Nias.
The Ulster team has now used the same technique to assess the aftermath of that second quake. Their analysis shows stress in the region to the south of the March 28 rupture has increased by up to 8 bar, priming it for a massive megathrust quake where one tectonic plate slips beneath another.
The scientists cannot predict exactly when the next earthquake might strike, but say local people ought to be prepared. There are plans to deploy sensors to detect tsunamis throughout the Indian Ocean, but no system is yet in place.
The Mentawai islands face the greatest threat. Although stress increases are higher near the Batu islands, an earthquake last struck there in 1935. The Mentawai section of the fault has not slipped since 1833, when records show the resulting giant earthquake caused a large tsunami.
Prof McCloskey said his calculations suggest the risk of another massive earthquake is now greater than it was before March 28. "There are several indications that this one looks like a stronger interaction than the last. The actual stresses we measure are more or less the same but the ripeness of the fault now is of real concern." The recent increase in the number of small and medium earthquakes in the area is also ringing alarm bells.
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck off the Indonesian coast yesterday but there were no reports of damage or casualties. It sparked panic in Sinabang, the main town of Simeulue off Sumatra, but did not trigger a tsunami. Indonesia has been rocked by repeated tremors since the Boxing Day event that killed more than 176,000 people in 11 countries, and left about 50,000 missing and hundreds of thousands homeless.
Tony Blair is to push for an international network of scientists to watch the world for potential natural disasters. It would also identify the gaps in the understanding of the natural world and look at new ways to help protect the most vulnerable populations.
"The events of Boxing Day 2004 have demonstrated that we ignore extreme natural hazards at our peril," said Sir David King, chief scientific adviser to the cabinet, who set up the working group.
"We must take up the challenge of identifying such threats, understanding the processes and mechanisms that underpin them, and developing effective systems to mitigate their impact."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/story/0,15671,1502288,00.html
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #102 on Jul 14, 2005, 9:04am » | |
Tsunami Quake Caused
1000km Seafloor Rupture
7-13-5
LONDON (Reuters) - The earthquake that triggered December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami caused a 1,000 km (620 mile) rupture in the sea floor, scientists said on Wednesday.
Using data from 60 Global Positioning System monitoring sites in southeast Asia, scientists at ENS/CNRS research institute in Paris calculated the unprecedented scale of the quake.
"We show that the rupture plane for this earthquake must have been at least 1,000 kilometers long," said Christophe Vigny who headed the research team.
The magnitude 9.15 earthquake, the biggest in 40 years, erupted off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. It triggered a tsunami that left up to 232,000 people dead and missing in 13 Indian Ocean countries.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand were most affected.
Vigny and his colleagues used displacement data recorded at the GPS sites across southeast Asia to construct and test models of the length of the rupture and the direction of thrust.
The satellite navigation network sites in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand were between 400 to 3,000 km from the epicenter of the December 26 quake.
"Small but significant seismic jumps are clearly detected more than 3,000 kilometers from the earthquake epicenter," Vigny said in a report in the science journal Nature.
Scientists have warned that a second earthquake in South Asia on March 28 increased stress on fault lines in the region, making it more vulnerable to another rupture and a tsunami.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050713/sc_nm/tsunami_dc
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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halvaa
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| | Re: Asia quake and tsunamis
« Reply #103 on Dec 26, 2005, 4:21am » | |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051226/ap_on_re_as/tsunami_year_ts1
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Mourners returned to battered shorelines Monday to mark one year since the Indian Ocean tsunami crashed ashore in a dozen countries, laying waste to coastal communities and sweeping away at least 216,000 lives.
Under a clear sky and before a gentle sea, survivors, friends and relatives of those who died and world leaders commemorated those lost in one of the worst natural disasters the modern world has experienced.
In Indonesia's Aceh province, which was closest to the earthquake that spawned the waves and bore the brunt of the disaster, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono led hundreds of other officials in a minute's silence at a ceremony held on a jetty overlooking the sea.
"It was under the same blue sky, exactly one year ago that mother earth unleashed her most destructive power upon us," Yudhoyono told the gathering.
Similar periods of silence were to be observed at officials ceremonies in Thailand and Sri Lanka, where flags would be lowered to half-staff and bells rung in remembrance. Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu prayers services were being held across the tsunami zone.
Some preferred more personal reflection.
In Thailand, one man sat in the sand, a bouquet of white roses laying in front of him. The man, who declined to talk to a reporter, was among scores of Westerners who traveled to sites along Thailand's world famous beachfront where their loved ones disappeared into the waves.
Ulrika Landgren, 37, of Malmoe, Sweden, brought her 9-year-old son to Patong beach where nine friends died. "Somehow it's good to see this place," she said, tears falling from behind her sunglasses.
One year ago Monday, a magnitude 9 earthquake — the most powerful in 40 years — ruptured the sea floor off Sumatra island, sending waves 33 feet high across the Indian Ocean.
They crashed ashore in a dozen countries, sweeping entire villages away in Aceh and Sri Lanka, swamping resorts in Thailand and surging into coastal communities from India to east Africa.
At least 216,000 people were killed or disappeared, The Associated Press found in an assessment of government and credible relief agency figures in each country hit. The United Nations puts the number at least 223,000, though it says some countries are still updating their figures.
The true toll will probably never be known — many bodies were lost at sea and in some cases the populations of places struck were not accurately recorded.
In Aceh, Yudhoyono set off a siren at 8:16 a.m. to mark the moment the first wave struck. The siren is part of a tsunami warning system that did not exist last year. He later scattered petals over a grave holding almost 47,000 bodies that were hastily buried in the days after the disaster.
Hundreds of people gathered at a mosque in Kajhu village for one of scores of prayer ceremonies in the province.
"It is important for me to come here to pray for my family, may they rest in peace," said Darmawati, 39, who lost her husband, two daughters and both parents in the disaster. "I pray that God will give me strength to raise my only son who survived.
Indonesia also tested a tsunami warning system for the first time Monday, sounding alarms in the western Sumatra town of Padang which sent many residents running through the streets according to an organized evacuation plan.
Residents of the town had been warned ahead of time that it was a drill.
In Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapakse joined mourners in the southern village of Peraliya on Monday to honor the more than 31,000 Sri Lankans who died in the tsunami. Four new postage stamps were also being issued showing tsunami waves and a passenger train that was washed off the tracks in the village.
The tsunami generated one of the most generous outpourings of foreign aid ever known. Some $13 billion was pledged to relief and recovery efforts, the U.N. says, of which 75 percent has already been secured.
But the pace of relief and reconstruction has been criticized, and frustration has grown among some of the 80 percent of refugees who are still living in tents, plywood barracks or the homes of family and friends.
Margareta Wahlstrom, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said people have to be patient.
"If you don't do things well they will collapse in a couple of years," she told AP on Sunday. "If you don't take time to do proper planning, and ask people what they want ... then you are going to create new problems along the way."
It was a somber Christmas for many of those who decided to hold private ceremonies Sunday.
Sigi Gsteu, of Feldkirch, Austria, wiped away tears as he told of three close friends who died when the torrents flooded their Thai resort bungalow.
"When a person is missing and you don't have (a body), you cannot say goodbye," he said as he set two simple wooden plaques engraved with his friends' names beneath a lone pine tree where the resort once stood.
Not everyone was thinking of the past, though. Holiday revelers partied with bar staff dressed in Christmas hats in Patong's notorious nightclub district.
___
Associated Press writers Meraiah Foley and Alisa Tang in Thailand, Dilip Ganguly in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Krishan Francis in Peraliya, Sri Lanka, and Ashok Sharma in Nagapattinam, India, contributed to this report.
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