{mos_ri}
Tectonics and Ancient Civilizations
{mos_ri}
Available Resources
7.8 Magnitude Earthquake in New Zealand
Significant destruction has occurred in New Zealand as a result of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the town of Kaikoura, about 2 hours drive north of Christchurch. Video footage shows significant surface rupture causing damage […]
Geologic Hazards
Trenching on Weber Segment of Wasatch Fault
The Salt Lake Tribune published an article recently on some trenching activity by the Utah Geologic Survey and the USGS to better date past movements on this active fault.
Press Releases
Italian Court Action Likely to Harm Efforts to Mitigate Earthquake Losses
On 22 October, 2012, an Italian court convicted six internationally respected scientists of manslaughter. The scientists Enzo Boschi, Giulio Selvaggi, Franco Barberi, Claudio Eva, Mauro Dolce, and Gian Michele Calvi have been sentenced to prison terms, barred from public office, and ordered to pay court costs and damages.
Their offense could have been avoided by precisely predicting the timing and nature of the tragic 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila. However, such precise, short-term earthquake prediction of the type evidently sought by L’Aquila is currently impossible. Because of the ungainly complexity of earthquake systems, knowledge of physical details is incomplete; the diverse expressions of earthquake processes deliver contradictory messages; and measurements of earthquake phenomena can be inaccurate. Glaringly, the indictment accused the scientists of having provided “incomplete”, “contradictory”, and “inaccurate” information.
[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release from the GSA. [/Editor]