News
21:12:2017

December 6, 2017
A decade after beginning work on an earthquake early warning system, scientists and engineers are fine-tuning a US West Coast prototype that could be in limited public use in 2018.

Seismic stations that contribute to ShakeAlert as of October 2017.
Credit: SRL

A decade after beginning work on an earthquake early warning system, scientists and engineers are fine-tuning a U.S. West Coast prototype that could be in limited public use in 2018.

19:12:2017

November 30, 2017

After an earthquake, there is a disturbance in the field of gravity almost instantaneously. This could be recorded before the seismic waves. Researchers have managed to observe these weak signals and to understand where they come from. Because they are sensitive to the magnitude of earthquakes, these signals may play an important role in the early identification of the occurrence of a major earthquake.

Seismograph.

15:11:2017

At least 437 people were killed and more than 7,600 others injured after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck near Iran's border with Iraq, authorities said Monday.
In Iran, rescuers who worked through dozens of aftershocks and were hindered by landslides ended their efforts late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, the country's top emergency management official, Pir-Hossein Kolivand said, according to Reuters.
Many houses in rural areas of Iran are made of mud bricks that can crumble easily in a quake.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency in Iran said the quake killed 430 people and injured at least 7,100. And Iraq's Interior Ministry confirmed that seven people in the neighboring country were killed by the quake, with 535 people wounded.
Other reports put the death toll in Iran at more than 450.

22:11:2017

October 23, 2017
University of Washington
The largest number yet of detailed simulations for how a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake might play out provides a clearer picture of what the region can expect when the fault unleashes a 9.0 earthquake.

Simulation parameters for the scenario that generated the least shaking in the Seattle area.
Credit: Erin Wirth/University of Washington/USGS

 
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Hot rock and ice: Volcanic chain underlies Antarctica

2015-12-24 02:54:58

Seismic maps of the mantle will improve predictions of giant ice sheet's fate

Planetary scientists would be thrilled if they could peel Earth like an orange and look at what lies beneath the thin crust. We live on the planet's cold surface, but Earth is a solid body and the surface is continually deformed, split, wrinkled and ruptured by the roiling of warmer layers beneath it.

Fewer landslides than expected after 2015 Nepal earthquake

2015-12-23 05:22:00

Fewer landslides resulted from the devastating 2015 Nepal earthquake than expected. In addition, no large floods from overflowing glacial lakes occurred after the magnitude 7.8 quake, which struck near the town of Gorkha, Nepal on April 25, 2015. The pattern of where the landslides occurred was unexpected.

Superflare: Sun could release flares 1000x greater than previously recorded

2015-12-18 06:08:39

Similarity between the flare on KIC9655129 and our own Sun's flares demonstrates the potential for the Sun to superflare

What the Sun might look like if it were to produce a superflare. A large flaring coronal loop structure is shown towering over a solar active region.

Credit: University of Warwick/Ronald Warmington

The Sun demonstrates the potential to superflare, new research into stellar flaring suggests.

Stretchy slabs found in the deep Earth

2015-12-10 04:58:12

A new study suggests that the common belief that the Earth's rigid tectonic plates stay strong when they slide under another plate, known as subduction, may not be universal.