Advancing earthquake science worldwide
17 May 2018–Can altering the amount or rate of fluid injection and production in an oil and gas field or carbon storage site affect induced earthquakes in that field? A physics-based simulation presented at the 2018 SSA Annual Meeting suggests that this type of “active pressure management” can be useful … Continue Reading »
16 May 2018–This spring, researchers will release an expanded database that covers the geometry of most of the world’s subducting slabs, the massive pieces of the Earth’s crust that sink into the mantle at tectonic plate boundaries. Called Slab2, the updated database will help researchers determine the impact of 3-D … Continue Reading »
16 May 2018–Devastating magnitude 8.0 to 9.0 megathrust earthquakes and accompanying tsunamis appear to have hit the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Southwest Canada about every 500 years on average. But some scientists think the recurrence interval between some of these large earthquakes may be shorter—along the lines of every 300 … Continue Reading »
16 May 2018–Last September’s magnitude 8.2 Tehuantepec earthquake and the magnitude 7.1 Puebla-Morelos earthquakes in Mexico led to an intense period of study for Latin American seismologists, with new research on everything from strong motion records to tsunamis generated by the two significant events. The 2018 SSA Annual Meeting devoted … Continue Reading »
16 May 2018–The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has researchers reevaluating whether a magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake and resulting tsunami might also be a likely risk for the Caribbean region, seismologists reported at the SSA 2018 Annual Meeting. “Before 2004, we thought an earthquake of about 8.0 was about right for … Continue Reading »
16 May 2018–There are more than a million kilometers of underwater telecommunication cables lining the world’s ocean floor. Scientists would like to outfit those cables with environmental sensors—including seismometers—to improve the speed and success of tsunami warnings and to create better models of the Earth’s interior. At the 2018 SSA … Continue Reading »