Advancing earthquake science worldwide
31 October 2018–The depth of the rock layer that serves as the disposal site for wastewater produced during unconventional oil extraction plays a significant role in whether that disposal triggers earthquakes in the U.S., according to a new study that takes a broad look at the issue. The research published … Continue Reading »
Heather McFarlin’s interest in volcanoes can be traced back to her father, who worked in hard rock drilling and loved science. This early exposure to geoscience followed her to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she majored in Geography. “One of the very first homework assignments I had was to look … Continue Reading »
16 October 2018–Underwater explosions detonated by the U.S. Navy to test the sturdiness of ships’ hulls have provided seismologists with a test opportunity of their own: how much can we know about an underwater explosion from the seismic and acoustic data it generates? In a study published in the Bulletin … Continue Reading »
1 October 2018–Before becoming a professor within the Sophisticated Earthquake Risk Evaluation Program – part of Kyoto University’s Disaster Prevention Research Institute – Hiroshi Kawase seemed destined to become an architect or structural engineer. He grew up watching his father design and build houses at the same time Japan was … Continue Reading »
26 September 2018–The epicenter of the 3 September 2017 nuclear test explosion in North Korea occurred about 3.6 kilometers northwest of the country’s first nuclear test in October 2006, according to a new high-precision analysis of the explosion and its aftermath. The study published in Seismological Research Letters by Lian-Feng Zhao … Continue Reading »
25 September 2018–The seasonal filling and emptying of reservoirs in India can cause measurable deformation of the surrounding rock, reducing the strength of nearby faults and potentially triggering earthquakes, according to two new papers published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Researchers in India used global positioning … Continue Reading »