After the strong earthquake in Pakistan a good part of the media coverage was about the fascinating story of the new island that emerged off Gwadar. While this was really amazing I think now it’s time to think about the consequences of the quake itself. We have seen a shallow M7.7 event that produced severe shaking across a large area. Peak ground acceleration exceeded 1 g in the 0.3 s period and was still intense in longer periods. 515 people have reportedly been killed and more than 100,000 are homeless. more
Posts in the category » Earthquake « ( 123 Posts )
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Earthquake in Pakistan – lessons to learn
2013-10-04 | in Earthquake, Opinion -
A mud volcano as an Earthquake Environmental Effect?
2013-09-26 | in Earthquake, Opinion | 6 responsesOn 24 September a shallow M7.7 earthquake rattled Pakistan. At least 300 people died and thousands of houses, most of them adobe, collapsed in Balochistan Province. The quake was felt as far away as Muscat (Oman) and New Delhi (India). Epicentral intensities reached up to IX. The earthquake appeared to be a strike slip event. Soon the media reported on an amazing effect of the quake – in roughly 400 km distance a new island appeared few hundred meters off Gwadar. more
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Field work image of the day: Broken stalagmites indicating earthquake activity
2013-07-18 | in EarthquakeTodays field work image is again by Elisa Kagan and shows a damaged stalagmite in the Soreq Cave near Jerusalem. Damaged stalagmites were used to reconstruct earthquake recurrence intervals. more
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New papers on earthquakes, paleoseismology and a “lost fault”
2013-07-09 | in Earthquake, PaperThe latest issue of the Seismological Research Letters (SRL) does not only have a very stylish cover, but also includes some papers that will be of interest for the fans of old earthquakes and environmental earthquake effects (EEEs). In the Historical Seismologist section, Bilham et al describe the hunt for a lost fault – that is, one that was described by Oldham in the 19th Century, but never really located and almost forgotten. Nice! more
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Kind of surprising M4.5 earthquake in NE Hungary
2013-04-23 | in Earthquake | one responseLast night (22:29 UTC on 22 April) a M4.5 earthquake rattled NE Hungary. The event was shallow (~10 km) and the epicentre was only about 25 km south of the city of Eger, famous for its red wine (Egri bikavér). The area is south to the Inner Western Carpathian Mountains. Light damage has been reported from the epicentral area, the EMSC questionnaires document intensities of VI. more
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Shallow M3.0 earthquake in W Germany, near ex-NPP Mülheim-Kärlich
2013-04-18 | in EarthquakeA shallow (12 km) earthquake of magnitude ML3.0 occurred this morning in W Germany near Koblenz in Ochtendung. According to the Geological Survey of Baden Württemberg, the magnitude was ML2.6 only, but the quake was preceded by few minor events (M<2.0) on 9 April and 14 April. Local news (The Rhein Zeitung) report that some people felt the event and that birds were afraid. This earthquake didn’t cause any damage, but it’s interesting in another way: Its epicentre is only 8 km away from the former nuclear power plant (NPP) Mülheim-Kärlich. more
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Shallow (update: medium depth) M7.8 earthquake hits E Iran, widely felt across Middle East
2013-04-16 | in EarthquakeA very strong earthquake occurred in Eastern Iran close to the Iran-Pakistan border. USGS reports a magnitude of 7.8 and a shallow depth of 15 km, EMSC data suggest M7.7 and 50 km depth. Preliminary shake maps estimate intensities around MSK VIII, which would be enough to make traditional adobe buildings to collapse. Reports confirm the event was felt as far away as Muscat, Oman (600 km distance!). Update: USGS now also reports a depth of 80 km.
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M6.3 earthquake rocks southwestern Iran, felt in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain
2013-04-09 | in EarthquakeUpdate: Read the article of The Times of Oman here!
Today at 11:52:50 UTC a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred in SW Iran close to the shore in a depth of 10 km. The event was widely felt in Iran and across the NE Arabian Peninsula. Moment tensor solution reveal a thrust mechanism, which is in perfect concordance with the historic seismicity pattern. The event was caused by the convergence of the Arabian and Eurasian plates, that not only built up the impressive Zagros Mountains, but also lead to the formation of the Makran Subduction Zone. Relative plate motions there are as fast as 20 mm/yr in the central part. more
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Georadar on active (?) faults in Oman
2013-04-08 | in Centerfault, Earthquake | 2 responsesI am currently at GUtech in Oman, a sister university of RWTH Aachen University, for teaching Geophysics and I spend most of the free time in the field with my colleague Gösta Hoffmann. On Friday we went to the Batinah area NW of Mascat to look for active faults. The Batinah is a plain of most likely Quaternary age, made up from the sediments delivered from the huge mountains in the south. Folded Tertiary limestones are cropping out close to the mountain range. Some of them are covered by Quaternary gravels, others aren’t. more
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Miners in Poland rescued after M4.6 earthquake caused tunnel collapse
2013-03-20 | in EarthquakeDid you think there was no earthquake hazard in Central Europe? Don’t worry unless you live in Italy, Greece, or Turkey? Wrong! There’s significant hazard not only in W Germany, S Spain and on the Balkan Peninsula – take into account mining induced events, too…
An earthquake of magnitude 4.6 occurred in SW Poland last night in very shallow depth. 19 copper miners were trapped inside the mine for hours after a tunnel collapsed and communication was cut. All miners were rescued, one suffered minor injuries.
The area is known as the Lubin mining area (coal and copper) and one of the hot spots in Central Europe’s seismicity. more