This is a fantastic article by Kathryn Schulz for New Yorker Magazine on the seismic and tsunami hazards associated with the Cascadia Subduction Zone in the Pacific Northwest. Ms. Schulz paints a very vivid picture of what the devestation will look like based on input from many people who know what they are talking about, geologists, seismologists, FEMA officials, and State and Local disaster planning folks. This article was so effective, that NPR reported a run on survival kit supplies in Northwest U.S. The article also does a nice job explaining the interesting geologic detective work to connect the dots on the last major earthquake and Tsunami to strike that area in January of 1700. Highly recommended reading. What did you think of the article? Leave a comment below. [Source: The New Yorker via AEG Insider. Image: ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPH NIEMANN; MAP BY ZIGGYMAJ / GETTY – New Yorker.com]
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China Earthquake Coverage
The regular news media as well as the geo-blogosphere are all abuzz about Monday’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake in central China. Official death toll is at 12,000 right now and that’s in Sichuan Province alone. My guess is that number will swell substantially in the coming days. If you haven’t seen photos and video yet, they are absolutely gut-wrenching. My heart and prayers go out to the victims of this disaster. (Photo by Liu Hai, AP)
Several geo-bloggers have posts about the earthquake. Harold Asmis of Ontario-GeoFish describes the earthquake as a "big valley-thrust earthquake" or what he calls the "Fist of God". Dave’s Landslide Blog has started compiling reports of landslides related to the earthquake in this landslide prone region of China. And here is the USGS info on the earthquake.
Geologists Recover Pieces of San Andreas Fault from 2 Miles Deep
As a follow up to a previous post, the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) team has announced that they have successfully completed their drilling and obtained cores of the San Andreas Fault at depths in excess of 2 miles below the surface. The zone of interest is approximately 135-ft in length. The core size is 4-in diameter. They have cemented in a 7-in casing and the next phase of the project will be to perforate the casing within the fault and install monitoring equipment consisting of seismometers, accelerometers, tiltmeters and a fluid pressure transducer. Read on for more info and links. (Image credit: EarthScope / NSF)
Anniversary of Loma Prieta Earthquake – USGS Warns of Hayward Fault
October 17 was the 18th anniversary of the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake that struck the Bay area. But a recent story by the Bay Area’s local ABC affiliate, ABC7, chose to focus on another earthquake, a 1868 earthquake of about the same magnitude that occurred on the Hayward Fault. According to the USGS, the Hayward Fault has a return period of about 140-years and "It’s the most heavily urbanized fault in the U.S. and it’s just waiting to go off…" Next year will be the 140-th anniversary of the last earthquake on the Hayward Fault. At some point it has the potential to be a very bad earthquake there. More after the break. (Photo by sanbeiji)