Tsunami evacuation buildings: another way to save lives in the Pacific Northwest
Some time soon, a powerful earthquake will trigger a massive tsunami that will flood the Pacific Northwest, destroying homes and threatening the lives of tens of thousands of people, says Yumei Wang, a geotechnical engineer at the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries in Portland. view more (2009-10-20)
Scientists obtain rocks moving into seismogenic zone
An international group of scientists aboard the Deep-Sea Drilling Vessel CHIKYU, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), return from a 40-day scientific expedition off the shore of the Kii Peninsula, Japan on Oct. 10, 2009. view more (2009-10-12)
Jade sheds light on Guatemala's geologic history
A new analysis of jade found along the Motagua fault that bisects Guatemala is underscoring the fact that this region has a more complex geologic history than previously thought. view more (2009-07-28)
Tremors on southern San Andreas Fault may mean increased earthquake risk
Increases in mysterious underground tremors observed in several active earthquake fault zones around the world could signal a build-up of stress at locked segments of the faults and presumably an increased likelihood of a major quake, according to a new University of California, Berkeley, study. view more (2009-07-10)
Predicted ground motions for great earthquake in Pacific Northwest: Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver
A new study evaluates expected ground motion in Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver from earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 - 9.0, providing engineers and policymakers with a new tool to build or retrofit structures to withstand seismic waves from large "subduction" earthquakes off the continent's west coast. view more (2009-06-11)
Understanding risk to Seattle's high-rise buildings from a giant Cascadian earthquake
The Cascadia subduction zone is likely to produce the strongest shaking experienced in the lower 48 states. Although seismic activity in the Pacific Northwest has been relatively low in the past two centuries, there is a growing consensus that this fault zone ruptures in giant earthquakes (magnitude exceeding 9); the last rupture is inferred to... view more... (2009-04-10)
Solomon Islands earthquake sheds light on enhanced tsunami risk
The 2007 Solomon Island earthquake may point to previously unknown increased earthquake and tsunami risks because of the unusual tectonic plate geography and the sudden change in direction of the earthquake, according to geoscientists. view more (2009-04-10)
Trapped water cause of regular tremors under Vancouver Island: UBC researchers
University of British Columbia researchers are offering the first compelling evidence to explain regular tremors under Vancouver Island. view more (2009-01-05)
Melting ice under pressure
The deep interior of Neptune, Uranus and Earth may contain some solid ice. Through first-principle molecular dynamics simulations, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists, together with University of California, Davis collaborators, used a two-phase approach to determine the melting temperature of ice VII (a high-pressure phase of ice)... view more... (2008-09-24)
Stress Buildup Precedes Large Sumatra Quakes
The island of Sumatra, Indonesia, has shaken many times with powerful earthquakes since the one that wrought the infamous 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Now, scientists from the California Institute of Technology and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences are harnessing information from these and earlier quakes to determine where the next ones will... view more... (2008-05-28)
1 year after Solomon Islands, scientists learn barrier to earthquakes weaker than expected
On the one year anniversary of a devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands that killed 52 people and displaced more than 6,000, scientists are revising their understanding of the potential for similar giant earthquakes in other parts of the globe. view more (2008-04-03)
Continents loss to oceans boosts staying power
New research suggests that the geological staying power of continents comes partly from their losing battle with the Earth's oceans over magnesium. view more (2008-04-02)
Scientists obtain core samples from subsea fault system off Japan
The third expedition of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) completed its mission off the Kii Peninsula today. view more (2008-02-06)
Deep-ocean researchers target tsunami zone near Japan
Rice University Earth scientist Dale Sawyer and colleagues last month reported the discovery of a strong variation in the tectonic stresses in a region of the Pacific Ocean notorious for generating devastating earthquakes and tsunamis in southeastern Japan. view more (2008-01-18)
Earth's Moving Crust May Occasionally Stop
The motion, formation, and recycling of Earth's crust-commonly known as plate tectonics-have long been thought to be continuous processes. But new research by geophysicists suggests that plate tectonic motions have occasionally stopped in Earth's geologic history, and may do so again. The findings could reshape our understanding of the history and... view more... (2008-01-10)
Plate tectonics may take a break
Plate tectonics, the geologic process responsible for creating the Earth's continents, mountain ranges, and ocean basins, may be an on-again, off-again affair. view more (2008-01-04)
2002 Alaskan quake left 7 areas of California stirred but not shaken
Earth tremors not linked to volcanic activity first turned up in seismic observations several years ago, but those tremors were almost exclusively in subduction zones such as the Cascadia region off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. view more (2007-11-26)
'Ultrasound' of Earth's crust reveals inner workings of a tsunami factory
Research announced this week by a team of U.S. and Japanese geoscientists may help explain why part of the seafloor near the southwest coast of Japan is particularly good at generating devastating tsunamis, such as the 1944 Tonankai event, which killed at least 1,200 people. The findings will help scientists assess the risk of giant tsunamis in... view more... (2007-11-16)
Measurements link magma melting rate to tectonic plate subduction rate
Determining the origin and rate of magma production in subduction zone volcanoes is essential to understanding the formation of continental crust and the recycling of subducted materials back into Earth's mantle. view more (2007-11-09)
Seismologists see Earth's interior as interplay between temperature, pressure and chemistry
Seismologists in recent years have recast their understanding of the inner workings of Earth from a relatively benign homogeneous environment to one that is highly dynamic and chemically diverse. view more (2007-10-26)
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