Important Takeaways:
- A significant earthquake just hit the Los Angeles area, striking two miles southwest of Pasadena, California.
- According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake was magnitude 4.4 and felt through the nearby counties.
- The tectonic plate responsible for the LA quake is the same one responsible for the Japan quake last Thursday, sparking fears of a ‘megaquake.’
- Emergency response groups have warned residents to “be prepared for aftershocks.” The quake caused no injuries or major damage, and the National Weather Service said a tsunami was not expected.
- The quake comes less than a week after a 5.2 magnitude temblor hit southern California and was also widely felt in Los Angeles.
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Important Takeaways:
- US state is rocked by more than SIXTY earthquakes with up to 5.1 magnitude in a week
- A single county has reported more than 60 earthquakes in the last week, sparking a State of Emergency to be declared.
- Scurry County in West Texas was hit by a 5.1-magnitude quake on Friday, which was felt as far north as Oklahoma, followed by a 4.5-magnitude the next day.
- The epicenter in Hermleigh has now experienced 62 seismic events since last Monday (July 23)
- No damages or injuries have been reported.
- The largest quake was felt about 80 miles away in Lubbock and across parts of the South Plains.
- West Texas is not located on a major fault line, but features 250 minor ones that extents outward 1,800 miles from the Dallas-Fort Worth area
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Important Takeaways:
- Southern California was recently rattled by several small earthquakes. They produced minor shaking but nonetheless left psychological aftershocks in a region whose seismic vulnerabilities are matched by our willingness to put the dangers out of our minds.
- For many, it all added to one question: Is this the beginning of something bigger?
- First, a magnitude 3.6 earthquake in the Ojai Valley sent weak shaking from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles on May 31. Then came two small quakes under the eastern L.A. neighborhood of El Sereno, the most powerful a 3.4. Finally, a trio of tremors hit the Costa Mesa-Newport Beach border, topping out at a magnitude 3.6 Thursday.
- Having half a dozen earthquakes with a magnitude over 2.5 in a week, hitting three distinct parts of Southern California, all in highly populated areas, is not a common occurrence.
- But experts say these smaller quakes have no predictive power over the next major, destructive earthquake in urban Southern California, the last of which came 30 years ago.
- Generally speaking, there is a 1 in 20 chance any earthquake in California will be followed by one that’s larger, said Susan Hough, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Those odds aren’t high, and typically, the subsequent, larger quake would occur in the same area within a week. Plus, if something bigger did happen, the odds are a new temblor would be only a little bigger, Hough said.
- In contrast, last week’s earthquakes highlighted nearby fault systems directly under our most populated cities and could produce even worse death tolls than a San Andreas megaquake, targeting our oldest neighborhoods with many unretrofitted buildings when they rupture.
- “All three sets of these earthquakes occurred near large, potentially dangerous faults,” said James Dolan, an earth sciences professor at USC. “The L.A. urban fault network has been in a seismic lull for the entire historic period, and this lull likely extends back on the order of the last 1,000 years. We know at some point this lull we’re in will end.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Earthquake hits volcanic crater near Naples: Strongest tremor to hit region in decades sparks panic, with buildings damaged
- The strongest earthquakes in decades were registered at a volcanic caldera near the southern Italian city of Naples on Monday night, sending panicked residents flocking into the streets.
- One 4.4-magnitude quake was registered shortly after 8pm (1800 GMT) at a depth of 1.6 miles, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).
- It was preceded moments earlier by a 3.5-magnitude tremor and followed by dozens of aftershocks.
- The Campi Flegrei – or Phlegraean Fields, as the caldera is known – experienced about 150 earthquakes between 7:51pm on Monday and 12:31am on Tuesday, the INGV said in a report.
- According to the institute’s Mauro Di Vito, ‘this is the most powerful seismic swarm in the last 40 years’.
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Important Takeaways:
- Floods linked to San Andreas quakes
- Historical record underscores connections between reservoirs and seismic activity.
- Geophysicists have linked historical earthquakes on the southern section of California’s famed San Andreas fault to ancient floods from the nearby Colorado River.
- The work has broad implications for understanding how floods or reservoirs relate to quakes — a topic that gained new relevance in 2008, after a massive earthquake in China’s Sichuan province killed more than 80,000 people. Some geologists have proposed that impounding water behind a newly built dam there helped hasten the quake.
- Now, new work in southern California suggests that at least three times in the past 2,000 years, the weight of river water spreading across floodplains seems to have helped trigger earthquakes in the region.
- The team subsequently analyzed data from 20-metre-deep cores pulled from the lake bed in 2003 during earlier work for the US Bureau of Reclamation. The cores showed layers of coarse sandy material laid down during floods — at the same time that seismic activity was known to have occurred.
- “We found quakes happened about every 100 to 200 years and were correlated with floods,” says Brothers. “The Colorado River spills, loads the crust and then there is a rupture.” He says the team is “very confident” in its evidence for the existence of three flood-derived quakes, of roughly magnitude 6, which happened about 600 years ago, 1,100 years ago and 1,200–1,900 years ago. “Sediments don’t lie,” he says.
- A quake of about magnitude 7 struck the southern San Andreas fault about 300 years ago; the next is a century overdue. One possible reason is the Hoover Dam: since its completion in 1936, the lower Colorado no longer floods.
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Important Takeaways:
- Nearly 75% of the U.S. could experience damaging earthquake shaking, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey-led team of more than 50 scientists and engineers.
- This was one of several key findings from the latest USGS National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM). The model was used to create a color-coded map that pinpoints where damaging earthquakes are most likely to occur based on insights from seismic studies, historical geologic data, and the latest data-collection technologies.
- The congressionally requested NSHM update was created as an essential tool to help engineers and others mitigate how earthquakes affect the most vulnerable communities by showing likely earthquake locations and how much shaking they might produce. New tools and technology identified nearly 500 additional faults that could produce a damaging quake, showcasing the evolving landscape of earthquake research.
- Key findings from the updated seismic hazard model include:
- Risk to people: Nearly 75% of the U.S. could experience potentially damaging earthquakes and intense ground shaking, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk.
- Widespread hazard: 37 U.S. states have experienced earthquakes exceeding magnitude 5 during the last 200 years, highlighting a long history of seismic activity across this country.
- Structural implications: The updated model will inform the future of building and structural design, offering critical insights for architects, engineers, and policymakers on how structures are planned and constructed across the U.S.
- Unified approach: This marks the first National Seismic Hazard Model to encompass all 50 states simultaneously, reflecting a massive collaborative effort with federal, state, and local partners.
- Not a prediction: No one can predict earthquakes. However, by investigating faults and past quakes, scientists can better assess the likelihood of future earthquakes and how intense their shaking might be
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Important Takeaways:
- Iceland Volcano Update: Eruption Map, Experts’ Views ‘Completely Changed’
- In an update on Tuesday, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said that the Reykjanes Peninsula—where an eruption was thought likely after a burst of seismic activity from November 10—would be subject to increased monitoring and more experts drafted in to help.
- On Wednesday, the Icelandic Met Office said the ground around Svartsengi “continues to inflate,” meaning “further dikes or an eruption remain possible.” While the area the previous dike formed is anticipated to be the most likely area of eruption, experts have not been able to discount the possibility that magma propagates elsewhere in the region.
- Between 1,500 and 1,800 earthquakes a day were being recorded from November 10 for nearly two weeks, before dropping to the low hundreds. Between 200-300 earthquakes have been registered a day in the past two days, while the Icelandic Met Office said as of 6:15 a.m. ET on Wednesday there had so far been a hundred.
- While the intense seismic activity around the vertical dike appears to have subsided for the time being, the continued flow of lava into the horizontal intrusion means another could form, or more magma flow into the dike, without warning.
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Important Takeaways:
- Iceland Volcano Update: Eruption-Making Magma Shift May Be ‘Days’ Away
- Another upward shift of magma through the Earth’s crust under Iceland that has the potential to cause an eruption “could happen in the next few days or possibly after several months,” as officials have expressed “considerable” uncertainty as to when the next volcanic episode might occur.
- Last week, a decline in the number and severity of earthquakes around the magma intrusion led it to conclude that an eruption from the episode was less likely but still possible. However, experts have warned that volcanic activity in the region could pick up again.
- Between 1,500 and 1,800 earthquakes a day were being recorded from November 10 for nearly two weeks, before dropping to the low hundreds.
- The earthquakes have mostly occurred over and around the site of the magma dike—which is estimated to be around 9.3 miles long and runs alongside the coastal fishing town of Grindavik, on a southwesterly peninsula on Iceland’s main island.
- A sudden shift in the North American tectonic plate away from the Eurasian plate is thought to have allowed magma to suddenly push upwards through a rift that runs between the two of them under Iceland.
- One Icelandic volcanologist previously told Newsweek that while the volcanic episode may have ended, it may mark the start of an “intense” period of tectonic activity based on historic trends.
- “We know that this is not the end of activity on the Reykjanes peninsula”
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Important Takeaways:
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- The heightened seismic activity, which started more than a week ago within the Reykjanes Peninsula, continued into Saturday with approximately 1,700 earthquakes recorded in 24 hours, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
- The office noted a high likelihood of volcanic eruption continues in the southwest along a 9-mile magma tunnel, with the highest likelihood of an eruption starting north of the small fishing town of Grindavík, which has a population of 3,400 and is located near Hagafell mountain
- Grindavík’s residents evacuated from the town last week before the chance to briefly re-enter on Thursday and Friday to collect important belongings, according to NBC…
- A volcanic eruption could disrupt air travel in other countries if it’s large enough. The 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano created massive plumes of ash that were swept into Europe by northerly winds, canceling more than 100,000 flights and creating $1.7 billion in lost revenue to airlines.
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Important Takeaways:
- 23,000 Earthquakes in Just Weeks Raise Fears of Volcanic Eruption
- Iceland has recorded thousands of earthquakes, localized in the Reykjanes Peninsula, in recent days, with the Nordic country evacuating its famous Blue Lagoon geothermal spa amid fears of a possible volcanic eruption.
- The effects of the recent earthquakes were felt as far as Borgarnes town, 51 kilometers (~32 miles) away from the peninsula. The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) has documented more than 23,000 tremors since October, including an earthquake of magnitude 5.0 on November 2nd, the largest spike in activity since tremors began.
- The Reykjanes Peninsula laid dormant for an estimated 800 years before an eruption in 2021. There are around 130 volcanoes across the island nation, most of which are active.
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