Advancing earthquake science worldwide
15 October 2020–The shape of the Earth may seem stable, but Virginia Tech geophysicist D. Sarah Stamps knows differently. She and her colleagues track its shifting shape millimeter by millimeter, quantifying the horizontal and vertical motions of the tectonic plates to get at the physics behind the plate motions. The … Continue Reading »
13 October 2020–By comparing two magnitude measurements for seismic events recorded locally, researchers can tell whether the event was a small earthquake or a single-fire buried chemical explosion. The findings, published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, give seismologists one more tool to monitor nuclear explosions, particularly … Continue Reading »
7 October 2020–An unusually shallow earthquake triggered by hydraulic fracturing in a Chinese shale gas field could change how experts view the risks of fracking for faults that lie very near the Earth’s surface. In the journal Seismological Research Letters, Hongfeng Yang of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and … Continue Reading »
30 September 2020–The 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence has revealed areas of the Los Angeles basin where the amplification of shaking of high-rise buildings is greatest, according to a new report in Seismological Research Letters. The 6 July 2019 magnitude 7.1 earthquake, located 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Los Angeles, … Continue Reading »
14 September 2020–In 2004, Brian Terbush climbed Mt. St. Helens in Washington State. The trip fueled his fascination with volcanoes, and he “jumped on the chance” to go to graduate school to study them further. “I’ve been lucky to get to see lots of volcanoes erupting and get a little … Continue Reading »
17 August 2020–For decades, seismologists have contended with the background “hiss” of the Earth—seismic waves generated by the normal interaction of land, ocean and atmosphere. Their goal has been to find ways to subtract this “noise,” to concentrate on the seismicity generated by earthquakes. But one scientist’s noise is another’s … Continue Reading »