For his six years of service as Editor-in-Chief of Seismological Research Letters, the Seismological Society of America will present Zhigang Peng with its 2020 Distinguished Service Award. Peng will receive the award at the 2021 SSA Annual Meeting. In their…
Tag: PLATE TECTONICS
New discovery could highlight areas where earthquakes are less likely to occur
Scientists from Cardiff University have discovered specific conditions that occur along the ocean floor where two tectonic plates are more likely to slowly creep past one another as opposed to drastically slipping and creating catastrophic earthquakes.
Scientists discover new forms of feldspars
High-pressure experiments reveal unknown variants of common mineral
Scientists discover new forms of feldspars
High-pressure experiments reveal unknown variants of common mineral
New clues to deep earthquake mystery
A new understanding of our planet’s deepest earthquakes could help unravel one of the most mysterious geophysical processes on Earth. Deep earthquakes — those at least 300 kilometers below the surface — don’t typically cause damage, but they are often…
New clues to deep earthquake mystery
A new understanding of our planet’s deepest earthquakes could help unravel one of the most mysterious geophysical processes on Earth. Deep earthquakes — those at least 300 kilometers below the surface — don’t typically cause damage, but they are often…
Caves tell us that Australia’s mountains are still growing
Buchan Caves unlock technique for measuring uplift of mountains
Caves tell us that Australia’s mountains are still growing
Buchan Caves unlock technique for measuring uplift of mountains
Portland State researcher develops new model to accurately date historic earthquakes
Three earthquakes in the Monterey Bay Area, occurring in 1838, 1890 and 1906, happened without a doubt on the San Andreas Fault, according to a new paper by a Portland State University researcher. The paper, “New Insights into Paleoseismic Age…
Researchers reveal largest and hottest shield volcano on Earth
In a recently published study, researchers from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology revealed the largest and hottest shield volcano on Earth. A team of volcanologists and ocean explorers used several lines…
Portland State researcher develops new model to accurately date historic earthquakes
Three earthquakes in the Monterey Bay Area, occurring in 1838, 1890 and 1906, happened without a doubt on the San Andreas Fault, according to a new paper by a Portland State University researcher. The paper, “New Insights into Paleoseismic Age…
Researchers reveal largest and hottest shield volcano on Earth
In a recently published study, researchers from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology revealed the largest and hottest shield volcano on Earth. A team of volcanologists and ocean explorers used several lines…
What’s Mars made of?
Researchers simulate the core of Mars to investigate its composition and origin
What’s Mars made of?
Researchers simulate the core of Mars to investigate its composition and origin
‘Lettere patenti’ help assess intensity of historic central Italian earthquakes
Three hundred-year-old administrative documents from the Roman government, granting residents permission to repair damage to their buildings, can help modern-day seismologists calculate intensities for a notable sequence of earthquakes that struck central Italy in 1703. Details gleaned from these “Lettere…
Growing mountains or shifting ground: What is going on in Earth’s inner core?
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Exhaustive seismic data from repeating earthquakes and new data-processing methods have yielded the best evidence yet that the Earth’s inner core is rotating – revealing a better understanding of the hotly debated processes that control the planet’s…
The great unconformity
A billion years is missing from the geologic record; one UC Santa Barbara scientist believes he knows where it may have gone
The great unconformity
A billion years is missing from the geologic record; one UC Santa Barbara scientist believes he knows where it may have gone
Fiber optics capture seismic signatures of the rose parade
Yes, there’s a prize for the most beautiful flower-filled float in the Rose Parade each year, but how about a prize for the most ground-shaking marching band? According to a new study, the 2020 honors go to the Southern University…
Fiber optics capture seismic signatures of the rose parade
Yes, there’s a prize for the most beautiful flower-filled float in the Rose Parade each year, but how about a prize for the most ground-shaking marching band? According to a new study, the 2020 honors go to the Southern University…
Scientists observes changes in Earth’s surface movement months before big earthquakes
This is part of the results of a new investigation carried out by scientists from Germany, Chile and the United States, including the University of Concepción geologist Marcos Moreno Switt. This team investigated the signals that captured the movement of…
Does accelerated subduction precede great earthquakes?
Large-scale wobbling in the months before massive Chile and Japan quakes
Does accelerated subduction precede great earthquakes?
Large-scale wobbling in the months before massive Chile and Japan quakes
‘Wobble’ may precede some great earthquakes, study shows
Japan shifted east, west, east before devastating 2011 quake and tsunami
Bizarre 66 million-year-old fossil from Madagascar provides clues on early mammals
Adalatherium identified as part of enigmatic Southern Hemisphere mammalian group that lived at the time of dinosaurs
Researchers dig into case of geologic amnesia
A team of geologists led by the University of Colorado Boulder is digging into what may be Earth’s most famous case of geologic amnesia. Researchers have spotted that phenomenon, called the “Great Unconformity,” at sites around North America, including in…
Is planet Earth young or old?
The Age of the Earth — A Physicist’s Odyssey spells out how the age of our planet has been determined over the years. What do you want to know? The result? Two diametrically opposite answers. They can’t both be right.…
Seismic map of North America reveals geologic clues, earthquake hazards
How do mountains form? What forces are needed to carve out a basin? Why does the Earth tremble and quake? Earth scientists pursue these fundamental questions to gain a better understanding of our planet’s deep past and present workings. Their…
New study takes the pulse of a sleeping supervolcano
Under the volcanoes in the Andes where Chile, Argentina and Bolivia meet, there is a gigantic reservoir of molten magma. For several million years, it has been there without fully solidifying or causing a supervolcanic eruption. Geologists have long wondered…
Evidence for plate tectonics on earth prior to 3.2 billion years ago
Paleomagnetic evidence for modern-like plate motion velocities at 3.2 Ga
A new tool to predict volcanic eruptions
Earth’s atmosphere is made up of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, a mixture that is unique in the Solar System (1). The oxygen was produced by some of the first living organisms. But where did the nitrogen come from? Did…
Journey to the center of the Earth
First of its kind experiment uses diamond anvils to simulate the Earth’s core
A new tool to predict volcanic eruptions
Earth’s atmosphere is made up of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, a mixture that is unique in the Solar System (1). The oxygen was produced by some of the first living organisms. But where did the nitrogen come from? Did…
Journey to the center of the Earth
First of its kind experiment uses diamond anvils to simulate the Earth’s core
Timing of large earthquakes follows a ‘devil’s staircase’ pattern
At the regional level and worldwide, the occurrence of large shallow earthquakes appears to follow a mathematical pattern called the Devil’s Staircase, where clusters of earthquake events are separated by long but irregular intervals of seismic quiet. The finding published…
Heavy iron isotopes leaking from Earth’s core
Earth’s molten core may be leaking iron, according to researchers who analyzed how iron behaves inside our planet. The boundary between the liquid iron core and the rocky mantle is located some 1,800 miles (2,900 km) below Earth’s surface. At…
Making a connection: Two ways that fault segments may overcome their separation
In complex fault zones, multiple seemingly disconnected faults can potentially rupture at once, increasing the chance of a large damaging earthquake. Recent earthquakes including the 1992 Landers, 1999 Hector Mine and 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes in California, among others, ruptured in…
Discovery of life in solid rock deep beneath sea may inspire new search for life on Mars
Bacteria live in tiny clay-filled cracks in solid rock millions of years old
Study shows potential for using fiber-optic networks to assess ground motions during earthquakes
A new study from a University of Michigan researcher and colleagues at three institutions demonstrates the potential for using existing networks of buried optical fibers as an inexpensive observatory for monitoring and studying earthquakes. The study provides new evidence that…
Study shows potential for using fiber-optic networks to assess ground motions during earthquakes
A new study from a University of Michigan researcher and colleagues at three institutions demonstrates the potential for using existing networks of buried optical fibers as an inexpensive observatory for monitoring and studying earthquakes. The study provides new evidence that…
In Earth’s largest extinction, land animal die-offs began long before marine extinction
New dates for fossils indicate land animal turnover extended for hundreds of thousands of years
Scientists get first look at cause of ‘slow motion’ earthquakes
Ocean drilling project reveals ‘mash up’ of rock types that lead to unique slow motion earthquake events
Eclectic rocks influence earthquake types
New Zealand’s largest fault is a jumble of mixed-up rocks of all shapes, sizes, compositions and origins. According to research from a global team of scientists, this motley mixture could help explain why the fault generates slow-motion earthquakes known as…
Shifts in deep geologic structure may have magnified great 2011 Japan tsunami
Where tectonic plates meet, a change in angle
Earth’s mantle, not its core, may have generated planet’s Early magnetic field
Scripps Oceanography researcher’s assertion bolstered by series of new studies
Separations between earthquakes reveal clear patterns
A new analysis of real earthquake data shows that the similarity between inter-earthquake times and distances displays a distinct relationship with their separation from an initial earthquake.
‘Fossil earthquakes’ offer new insight into seismic activity deep below earth’s surface
A major international study has shed new light on the mechanisms through which earthquakes are triggered up to 40km beneath the earth’s surface. While such earthquakes are unusual, because rocks at those depth are expected to creep slowly and aseismically,…
GSA cancels joint section meeting
Meeting of the Geological Society of America’s Southeastern and Northeastern Geographic Sections
Researchers develop new explanation for destructive earthquake vibrations
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Earthquakes produce seismic waves with a range of frequencies, from the long, rolling motions that make skyscrapers sway, to the jerky, high-frequency vibrations that cause tremendous damage to houses and other smaller structures. A pair…
Sinking sea mountains make and muffle earthquakes
Subduction zones — places where one tectonic plate dives beneath another — are where the world’s largest and most damaging earthquakes occur. A new study has found that when underwater mountains — also known as seamounts — are pulled into…