Geobulletin alpha

Earthquake Stupidity #4 -- Shake Tables 

As an early warning system is to a seismologist, so a shake table is to an engineer.  In fact, there is holy war on shake tables, getting bigger and bigger ones.  It's not enough that they can get an entire house on one, we look forward to entire towns! So, why are we all into shake tables?  A long time ago there was an earthquake in Venezuela that affected some really bad buildings on soft

Earthquake Stupidity #2 -- Early warning systems 

Early warning systems are a seismologist's wet dream.  Remember that these guys can't do math, and have no concept how shaking damages things.  All they know is that these systems bring in lots of money, and they lobby the politicians relentlessly.  Any money for this is taken out of strong ground motion recording. They work like this:  In an ideal world, you have a tiny fault rupture, at

Earthquake Corruption in Oklahoma 

Article This will divert my Russian readers.  Saying there is corruption in OK is like saying Poutine bags another one. Local seismic monitoring units cannot make up magnitudes willy-nilly.  The local guy has questionable qualifications.  I would call him more of a Oklahoma-seismologist, rather than a seismologist.  :) Anyway, the big freeze combined with low oil prices has settled things

Dallas M3.3 earthquake - walks like a duck 

They were pretty ruthless in chopping down the well for Azle, now it looks like fracking waste again near Dallas.  Oh well, they have a seismologist now.  This is coming up quite fast, so he better get a move

Texas Earthquake Conspiracy 

Article "It's my personal belief," he said, "that the well water operator dialed it down to make them stop." This is a great article.  If this seismologist becomes an Italian Fall-Guy, then it is fine, since he got lots of money and can go back to the farm.  I think this job is 90% political, and I could never do it.  I would soon go crazy and stand up and yell:  "You're all a bunch

GeoTalk: Matthew Agius on how online communication can help identify earthquake impact 

In this edition of GeoTalk, we’re talking to Matthew Agius, a seismologist from the University of Malta and the Young Scientist Representative for the EGU’s Seismology Division. Matthew gave an enlightening talk during the EGU General Assembly on how communication on online platforms such as Facebook can help scientists assess the effect of earthquakes. Here

3.2-magnitude earthquake hits near Francis: Seismologist says quake is “nothing out of the ordinary” 

parkrecord.com Francis resident Eric Averett was sitting at his kitchen table Friday morning when he felt a short rumbling and a “boom” sound. That rumbling was a 3.2-magnitude earthquake, which was reported three miles southwest of Woodland. READ

V.K Gaur On Earthquake Research, Jaitapur Seismic Risk And Role Of Scientists 

The Hindu carried an interview with Vinod Kumar Gaur, seismologist with the Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation. His work on the seisimic risk at Jaitapur southern Maharashtra where a nuclear power plant has been proposed was criticized by the Indian government and his colleague Roger Bilham denied entry into India on the grounds that he violated the terms of his

Note To Indian Govt: It Is Pointless Banning Seismologist Roger Bilham 

I wrote in my last post on the travel ban issued by the Indian Government to American seismologist Dr. Roger Bilham. The reason given was that he was engaging in activities inconsistent with his visitor visa status. These activities include attending scientific meetings and contributing towards understanding seismic risk at a proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in southern Maharashtra. I

Politics And Pettiness In Indian Seismology 

American seismologist Roger Bilham who has previously visited India many times to attend workshops and to meet colleagues on a tourist visa is now blacklisted and is being refused entry in to India. A year ago he and Vinod Gaur of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore wrote a paper in Current Science  (open access) suggesting that there is small probability of a 6-7 mag

Catch the radio interview Monday on the Morenci earthquake swarm 

Mark Duggan of Tucson's Arizona Public Media interviewed AZGS seismologist Dr. Jeri Young regarding the recent earthquake swarm north of Morenci.  The interview is scheduled for broadcast on Monday morning at 6:33 (ish) and 8:33 (ish) on FM 89.1. It will also be published to the web.  [Right, location map of recent earthquake epicenters in northern Greenlee County.  The vertical line is

Earthquake dynamic friction to zero 

Article CR: Don’t be afraid—ride it out, enjoy it … I know a seismologist, who, when an earthquake occurs, will just drop to the floor and lie spread-eagle on the ground and try to determine which way the waves are coming from—I didn’t react fast enough to do that the other night. Now, I really don't think she meant that all eastern earthquakes are a 'fun ride'.  If so, then there is no

Earthquake swarm continues north of Morenci 

The USGS reports a magnitude 2.5 earthquake at 7 am this morning (local time) about 23 miles NNE of Morenci near the New Mexico border  (right, credit USGS), continuing a small swarm that has been going on since October 8 when a M=4.1 (local magnitude).     AZGS seismologist Jeri Young has been tracking the swarm on the AZGS-run Arizona Broadband Seismic Network.  The smaller events are

Giant Sumatra earthquake recorded in Arizona 

This morning's magnitude 8.6 earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia, sent seismic waves around the world. They were picked up by the Arizona Broadband Seismic Network, run by AZGS.Our seismologist, Lisa Linville, based in Flagstaff, compiled this summary of the arrivals in

Big increase in Arizona seismicity in 2011 

In 2011, there were 131 earthquakes detected by instruments in Arizona. The largest events of the year were magnitude (Md) 3.7 and 3.6 near Clarkdale in central Arizona, according to a summary compiled by AZGS seismologist Lisa Linville, and published today in our online magazine, Arizona Geology.In 2010, there were 53 earthquakes recorded. Overall, seismic activity in 2011 represents a

Mexico earthquake recorded on AZ broadband seismic network 

AZGS seismologist Lisa Linville in our Flagstaff office compiled this display of the seismic waveforms rolling across Arizona from yesterday's M=7.4 earthquake in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, as recorded on the stations of the Arizona Broadband Seismic Network, which is managed by AZGS.The initial pulses are the P waves, followed by often higher amplitude S or surface waves.We plan on posting

Ohio still hot and heavy on injection earthquakes 

Article Bevacqua said that the seismologist made his judgment from "an office in New York" and that no one has definitively proven the quakes are related to activity at the well. The company has commissioned a study and is depressurizing the well following the shutdown. Oh, those nasty offices in New York!  If you get a map of all those other 'well behaved' injection sites in Ohio, you

The endangered state seismologist 

Article That doesn’t reassure Vanessa Pesec, president of the Network for Oil and Gas Accountability and Protection, an advocacy group that opposes drilling in shale. “A part-time guy with $20,000 isn’t sufficient,” Pesec said. Nice article, no

Some Lake Mead seismic activity due to quarry blasts 

Some of the events recorded on seismographs as earthquakes around or under Lake Mead, were likely blasts from quarries in the region. AZGS seismologist Lisa Linville confirmed this in discussions with colleagues at the Nevada Seismological Lab in Reno. Despite this, has there been increased activity around the lake during the past spring and summer, as the lake filled at a record rate due

Spate of Large Earthquakes Not Related 

MENLO PARK, Calif. – The magnitude-7.2 earthquake on October 23 rd in Turkey and the magnitude-9.0 quake that impacted Japan in March are leading many to wonder if these events are part of a larger global trend toward giant earthquakes. After combing through 110 years’ worth of global seismic records, USGS seismologist