The Earthquake/Seismic Activity Log

September 26, 2012 – CALIFRONIA – A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck near Mexico’s Baja Peninsula on Tuesday but a local official said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The quake’s epicenter was located 46 miles north of La Paz, Mexico, and was centered in the Gulf of California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. “It felt pretty strong,” said Ivan Calderon, a Baja Sur civil protection official, adding there were no reports of damages or injuries. A magnitude 6 earthquake is capable of causing severe damage.

Just amazing activity on the West coast of the US.
I wonder if this is considered fear porn by some.

It's been active the past 3 days.

DATE LAT LON MAG DEPTH km REGION
26-SEP-2012 23:48:05 40.16 -112.14 4.0 13.9 UTAH
26-SEP-2012 23:39:58 51.58 -178.20 6.9 40.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
26-SEP-2012 07:42:42 43.17 -126.39 4.4 9.9 OFF COAST OF OREGON
26-SEP-2012 06:45:18 -18.85 -175.44 5.6 162.1 TONGA ISLANDS
26-SEP-2012 06:02:17 24.67 -110.13 4.0 9.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
26-SEP-2012 05:24:44 -32.39 -178.08 4.8 35.0 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS
26-SEP-2012 02:22:24 6.75 -73.03 4.3 152.4 NORTHERN COLOMBIA
26-SEP-2012 01:41:43 -21.21 -174.27 5.1 42.7 TONGA ISLANDS
26-SEP-2012 01:28:32 34.80 29.98 4.6 29.1 EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA
26-SEP-2012 01:21:16 24.88 -110.20 4.3 10.0 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
26-SEP-2012 00:59:46 24.59 -110.18 4.0 10.0 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
26-SEP-2012 00:17:54 24.64 -110.27 4.7 10.0 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
26-SEP-2012 00:05:29 24.51 -110.19 4.7 10.0 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
25-SEP-2012 23:45:24 24.67 -110.17 5.9 10.0 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
25-SEP-2012 19:42:32 -9.76 159.76 5.2 27.5 SOLOMON ISLANDS
25-SEP-2012 17:49:07 -8.88 -75.92 4.7 112.9 CENTRAL PERU
25-SEP-2012 15:48:45 54.15 -164.10 4.9 51.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION
25-SEP-2012 15:15:09 39.17 -123.17 4.3 9.9 NEAR COAST OF NORTHERN CALIF.
25-SEP-2012 14:21:39 36.11 142.31 5.0 21.8 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
25-SEP-2012 10:41:27 9.72 126.70 5.0 57.7 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
25-SEP-2012 09:59:18 9.84 126.72 4.7 49.3 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
25-SEP-2012 08:33:00 36.28 69.22 5.2 26.5 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
25-SEP-2012 08:08:27 1.85 127.37 4.7 117.6 HALMAHERA, INDONESIA
25-SEP-2012 05:37:52 -25.14 178.86 5.2 565.0 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
25-SEP-2012 03:08:13 -9.42 124.72 4.8 21.4 TIMOR REGION, INDONESIA
25-SEP-2012 03:06:52 -15.47 -173.92 5.7 104.5 TONGA ISLANDS
25-SEP-2012 01:43:14 -53.25 25.40 5.2 15.7 SOUTH OF AFRICA
24-SEP-2012 22:55:13 31.85 -115.00 4.0 10.0 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
24-SEP-2012 21:57:35 23.09 121.31 4.5 23.8 TAIWAN
24-SEP-2012 13:57:33 11.94 142.84 4.6 37.7 SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS
24-SEP-2012 10:31:23 -21.19 -174.21 5.5 8.2 TONGA ISLANDS
24-SEP-2012 08:37:08 18.63 145.61 4.5 245.7 MARIANA ISLANDS
24-SEP-2012 02:46:12 10.08 126.61 4.9 35.6 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
24-SEP-2012 02:01:36 -5.71 -11.54 4.1 9.9 ASCENSION ISLAND REGION
24-SEP-2012 01:18:50 -20.40 -178.07 4.3 431.3 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
24-SEP-2012 00:27:58 5.68 126.59 5.1 35.0 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
23-SEP-2012 23:42:31 11.69 143.24 5.5 35.0 SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS
23-SEP-2012 22:37:28 -0.58 -19.91 4.8 10.0 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
23-SEP-2012 21:35:05 10.24 -85.89 4.4 31.9 COSTA RICA
23-SEP-2012 15:23:52 10.53 126.30 4.6 35.0 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
23-SEP-2012 14:58:20 9.98 -85.60 4.5 10.0 OFF COAST OF COSTA RICA
23-SEP-2012 14:36:54 -7.25 130.52 4.3 131.1 TANIMBAR ISLANDS REG., INDONESIA
23-SEP-2012 13:53:56 39.99 53.72 4.4 46.6 TURKMENISTAN
23-SEP-2012 13:29:34 -3.35 146.29 4.3 39.1 BISMARCK SEA
23-SEP-2012 12:33:54 -6.27 130.37 4.7 134.1 BANDA SEA
23-SEP-2012 12:28:29 -20.26 -69.00 4.5 85.7 CHILE-BOLIVIA BORDER REGION
23-SEP-2012 10:57:44 -21.81 170.79 4.5 110.8 LOYALTY ISLANDS REGION
23-SEP-2012 08:52:53 12.65 -88.57 4.2 44.0 OFF COAST OF CENTRAL AMERICA
23-SEP-2012 08:47:17 -13.21 -77.12 4.4 71.5 OFF COAST OF PERU
23-SEP-2012 06:40:57 -16.92 175.18 5.3 33.6 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
23-SEP-2012 06:30:27 13.19 126.21 4.9 38.0 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
23-SEP-2012 05:40:53 38.41 46.68 4.0 18.0 ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN-IRAN BORD REG
23-SEP-2012 05:34:43 19.46 -64.60 4.4 14.8 VIRGIN ISLANDS
23-SEP-2012 03:43:09 10.03 -85.42 4.4 36.4 COSTA RICA
23-SEP-2012 01:51:36 12.93 -88.65 4.5 80.7 OFF COAST OF CENTRAL AMERICA

September 27, 2012 – INDONESIA - Planet Earth may be 4.5 billion years old, but that doesn’t mean it can’t serve up a shattering surprise now and again. Such was the case on April 11 when two massive earthquakes erupted beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, far from the usual danger zones. Now scientists say the seafloor ruptures are part of a long suspected, yet never before observed, event: the slow-motion splitting of a vast tectonic plate. The first of the quakes, a magnitude 8.7, was 20 times more powerful than California’s long anticipated “big one” and tore a complex network of faults deep in the ocean floor. The violence also triggered unusually large aftershocks thousands of miles away, including four off North America’s western coast. “It was jaw-dropping,” said Thorne Lay, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz. “It was like nothing we’d ever seen.” At first, Lay wondered whether the computer code he used to analyze earthquakes was wrong. Eventually, he and other scientists realized that they had documented the breakup of the Indo-Australian plate into two pieces, an epic process that began roughly 50 million years ago and will continue for tens of millions more. Lay and other scientists reported their findings online Wednesday in the journal Nature. Most great earthquakes occur along plate borders, where one plate dives beneath the adjoining plate and sinks deep into Earth’s mantle, a process called subduction. The April 11 quakes, however, occurred in the middle of the plate and involved a number of strike-slip faults, meaning the ground on one side of the fault moves horizontally past ground on the other side. Scientists say the 8.7 main shock broke four faults. The quake lasted 2 minutes and 40 seconds — most last just seconds — and was followed by a second main shock, of magnitude 8.2, two hours later. Unlike the magnitude 9.1 temblor that struck in the same region on Dec. 26, 2004, and created a deadly tsunami, the April 11 quakes did not cause similar destruction. That’s because horizontally moving strike-slip faults do not induce the massive, vertical displacement of water that thrust faults do on the borders of plates. The type of interplate faults involved in the Sumatran quakes are the result of monumental forces, some of which drove the land mass of India into Asia millions of years ago and lifted the Himalayan Mountains. As the Indo-Australian plate continues to slide northwest, the western portion of the plate, where India is, has been grinding against and underneath Asia. But the eastern portion of the plate, which contains Australia, keeps on moving without the same obstruction. That difference creates squeezing pressure in the area where the quakes occurred. The study authors say that over time, as more quakes occur and new ruptures appear, the cracks will eventually coalesce into a single fissure. “This is part of the messy business of breaking up a plate,” said University of Utah seismologist Keith Koper, senior author of one of the studies. “Most likely it will take thousands of similar large quakes for that to happen.” The quakes were also notable for triggering powerful aftershocks thousands of miles away. Though major quakes have been known to trigger aftershocks at great distance, they are usually less than 5.5 in magnitude. The April earthquakes triggered 11 aftershocks that measured 5.5 or greater in the six days that followed, including a magnitude 7. Remote shocks were felt 6,000 to 12,000 miles from the main quakes. Fred Pollitz, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and lead author of one of the studies, said the quakes were extremely effective in transmitting seismic wave radiation around the world. Though Pollitz said the magnitude of the larger Sumatran quake is No. 10 on the list of quakes since 1900, no other temblor has triggered so many strong aftershocks so far away. “It’s the most powerful earthquake ever in terms of capability of putting stress on other fault zones around the world,” he said. –LA Times

September 27, 2012 – ALASKA – A strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck the Aleutian Islands region of Alaska. The epicenter of the earthquake was 131 km (82 miles) from Adak, Alaska and about 2054 km (1277 miles) from Anchorage, AK. The quake was downgraded from 6.9 to a 6.4 magnitude earthquake registered at a depth of 9.9 km (6.2 miles) below the earth’s surface. The earthquake struck 33 km south of the Tanaga volcano in Alaska. Tanaga is a 5,924-foot (1,806 m) stratovolcano in the Aleutian Range of the U.S. state of Alaska. There have been three known eruptions at the volcano since 1763. The most recent eruption occurred in 1914 and produced lava flows. –The Extinction Protocol

September 28, 2012 – SOLOMON ISLANDS – A quake measuring magnitude 6.0 hit off the Solomon Islands today, but Australian seismologists said there was little risk of a tsunami. The US Geological Survey put the quake at 6.0-magnitude some 272 kilometers west-northwest of the capital Honiara. With a depth of about 9 kilometers, it was about 112 kilometers southeast of the western city of Gizo. Geoscience Australia measured the quake at about 6.2-magnitude but said it was unlikely to create a tsunami or cause serious damage in the capital. “It’s just off the plate boundary so it’s a normal-sized earthquake and positioning for the area,” seismologist Hugh Glanville told AFP. “It’s not too close to Honiara. There’s a local city with a population of about 6,000 or so that might get a bit of damage,” he said in reference to Gizo. “But the majority of the population is a bit too far away to suffer more than a bit of shaking. And the population in the area is pretty sparse really.” Glanville also said the quake was too small to generate a tsunami. “Generally a local tsunami starts at about 6.5 (magnitude). It’s always possible, but it’s just extremely rare that it would generate a tsunami,” he said. “It’s just one of the plate boundary earthquakes along the Ring of Fire that normally happens in this area.” The Solomon Islands form part of the Ring of Fire, a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific Ocean that is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.1-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless.


September 28, 2012 – CALIFORNIA - The San Andreas, Calaveras, and Hayward fault lines -which run underneath Silicon Valley – could set off tremors and aftershocks globally, according to a new study. Researchers at UC Berkeley and the U.S. Geological Survey found that fault lines of the “strike-slip” type, where plates of land slide past each other, were more likely to set off the worldwide aftershocks. As an example, the researchers found the 8.6 earthquake in Indonesia this April set off 16 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.5 or greater within days. Not only could these “strike slip” faults like the San Andreas, Calaveras, and Hayward faults set off worldwide aftershocks, but the researchers indicate the faults could also be set off if another earthquake’s tremors struck when the fault was ready to rupture. However, the study indicates a quake powerful enough to do that only happens once every 50 years or so.

September 30, 2012 – COLOMBIA – A strong 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck along the coast of Colombia at a depth of 162.1 km (100.7 miles). The epicenter of the earthquake was 62 km (39 miles) S (176°) from Popayan, Colombia and 345 km (214 miles) from QUITO, Ecuador. According to USGS statistics, about fifteen 7.0 magnitude earthquakes occur each year but there have been five such high intensity earthquakes reported across the planet in the last 45 days, provided the USGS does not downgrade today’s quake further. On August 14, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake was reported in Sea of Okhotsk near NE Russia; on August 27, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of El Salvador; on August 31, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck near the Philippine Islands, and on September 5, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Costa Rica. Today’s earthquake was originally registered as a 7.4 by the USGS. The director of Colombia’s disaster relief service, Carlos Ivan Marquez, said that there were only reports of minor damage to homes in one village. The temblor shook buildings and rattled windows in 10 central and western provinces, but despite police and firefighters reported no damage. The quake also shook Ecuador’s capital Quito and other parts of the country for about 30 seconds, and was felt particularly in tall buildings in the capital. –The Extinction Protocol

September 30, 2012 – DALLAS - The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 3.4 magnitude earthquake centered near Irving at 11:05 p.m. Saturday. Four minutes later, there was a magnitude 3.1 quake in West Dallas. Both were estimated at a depth of 3.1 miles. News 8 has been receiving calls and Facebook postings from people who felt the earth moving in Richardson, Garland, Coppell, Dallas, Grapevine, and other locations in North Texas. The epicenter of the initial quake was located near MacArthur Boulevard and Rochelle Road near Farine Elementary School, according to coordinates provided by the USGS. The second tremor was centered near the intersection of Loop 12 and Interstate 30, about six miles southeast of the first earthquake. Irving’s emergency operators were flooded with more than 400 calls after the initial quake as people reported such minor damage as cracks in some walls and a ceiling, pictures knocked down and a report of a possible gas leak, according to an emergency official, Pat McMacken. City officials said they were still following up on the various reports early Sunday. Beverly Rangel’s home on New Haven Street in Irving was at the epicenter of the first quake. “The table started shaking,” she said. “It’s a pretty heavy table for it to be shaking! I kind of got scared,” said her son, Emmanuel. “I was sitting right here, and the couch just started shaking.” Ashley Finley in Las Colinas said she felt two tremors that shook her walls and furniture. Cheryl Gideon in Irving said she and her neighbors all ran outside. Irving police checked neighborhoods near the epicenter to ensure there was no damage. “We felt it twice in Euless about five minutes apart,” wrote Denise Perez. “We weren’t sure if a plane had crashed or the roof was caving in. It sounded massive.” Joni Gregory of Carrollton said she was surprised she could feel the quake so far away. “The house shook a couple of times… didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “Maybe it’s wind? No, it’s too much.” Geophysicist Randy Baldwin at the USGS earthquake center in Golden, Colorado told The Associated Press that the quake was just strong enough to likely have been felt for about 15 or 20 miles around the epicenter. He says the quake’s online reporting system received no reports of any damages or injuries but there were some 1,200 responses from people who felt the quake. Baldwin says smaller aftershocks are a possibility in that area in coming hours or days. He said the Saturday night quakes were detected by a seismological station located about 65 miles from the epicenter — somewhat distant — and the preliminary magnitude of 3.4 for the initial tremor could be revised up or down once further data is evaluated. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport continued operations normally during and after the quakes, which barely rattled nerves at the airport located partially within the city limits of Irving, said airport public affairs officer David Magaña. He told AP said the airport, which bustles at peak hours to get some 1,800 flights in and out daily, was in a quiet period with very little air traffic late Saturday night. -WFAA

October 6, 2012 –WASHINGTON - Parts of Washington and Oregon are in the midst of silent earthquakes this week. You can’t feel this so-called “slow slip” quake and it doesn’t cause damage. Still, scientists want to learn more about the recently discovered phenomenon. Little is certain so far, but there’s a possibility these deep tremors could trigger a damaging earthquake or serve as a warning bell for the Big One. A bank of computer monitors covers one wall of the University of Washington seismology lab. Some display seismograph readouts that look like jagged mountain ranges stacked one over the other. A big screen shows a current map of tremors under the Pacific Northwest. It is lit up with activity. “Each dot represents the location of a five minute burst of tremor,” says earth scientist Ken Creager. He scrutinizes a dense slash of blue, yellow, green and red dots. The arc stretches south from mid-Vancouver Island, goes under the Olympic Peninsula, Puget Sound and peters out south of Olympia. A separate patch of color radiates out from near Roseburg, Ore. Washington State Seismologist John Vidale is also keeping an eye on the busy map. “This kind of earthquake is distinctly different than the earthquakes we have been watching for a hundred years, because this patch of fault that we’re watching takes three weeks to break. Whereas ordinarily something a hundred miles long would take a minute or less to break. About half of our instruments can see it,” Vidale adds. “It’s a very slight level of rattling. I don’t think I have ever heard of somebody who we believed could feel it.” Local seismologists woke up to the phenomenon about a decade ago and have since discovered a big non-volcanic tremor swarm happens fairly routinely around here — every 14 months or so in western Washington, a little less often in Oregon and more often in northern California. Scientists have coined a variety of names including “slow slip quake” or “episodic tremor and slip” to describe what they’re seeing. Vidale says the mechanisms at work deep underground remain fairly mysterious. This current slow slip quake under the Salish Sea has lasted five weeks. Creager says scientists have calculated that a significant event like this releases the equivalent energy of a magnitude 6.5 regular quake. “It’s a lot of energy being released,” Creager says. “It just happens so slowly that you’re not going to feel it. This is the way we like to see energy released.” But there’s a flip side. The grinding and slippage at depth increases the strain closer to the surface where the North American plate and the oceanic plate are stuck together or “locked.” When that offshore fault zone eventually gives way, we get the damaging Big One. University of Oregon Professor David Schmidt makes an analogy to a car teetering partway over a cliff. “And these small slow slip events are somebody standing behind that car giving it a little nudge every several months. So even though the nudge is small, at some point that nudge might be enough to kind of tip us over the edge and cause the car to fall off the cliff.” Or set off the Cascadia mega-quake in this analogy. Schmidt points to a study published in the journal Science that describes how last year’s great earthquake and tsunami in Japan was preceded by slow slip and tremor near the epicenter. John Vidale mentions another killer earthquake, in Turkey in 1999, where instruments picked up a slow slip precursor. “One of the goals of our research is to say, how often does that slow slip trigger a great earthquake? How often are great earthquakes triggered by slow slip? That’s almost completely unknown at this point.” Vidale and his colleague Creager are more certain that we don’t need to quake with worry. They note that great earthquakes strike very infrequently in the Northwest. So even if a megaquake becomes more likely during a slow slip event, the chances of one happening are still quite slim. –Northwest Public Radio

October 8, 2012 – CALIFORNIA – A magnitude 6.0 earthquake has shaken the Gulf of California coast in Mexico, but there are no reports of damage. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake hit at 11:26 p.m. Sunday local time (2:26 a.m. Monday EST; 0626 GMT) was centered 63 miles (102 kilometers) southwest of Los Mochis. Local officials reported some panic, but no known damage. –http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/08/4891519/magnitude-6-earthquake-hits-gulf.html

Strong earthquake strikes Banda Sea: An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 struck off the southeastern Indonesia coast Monday evening, the US Geological Survey said. The epicenter of the quake, which occurred at 6:43 pm Monday (1143 GMT), was located in the Banda Sea 139 km (86 miles) southeast of the town of Ambon, USGS reported. It took place at a depth of 34 km. –http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/316047/6-3-quake-strikes-off-indonesia-coast

October 10, 2012 – TEXAS - The three earthquakes that shook North Texas late last month left many mildly rattled residents scratching their heads. North Texas is not on any major fault lines, and area residents are likely more familiar with tornadoes than other violent natural disruptions, but the two earthquakes that struck West Dallas and Irving on September 29 registered a 3.4 and 3.1 on the Richter scale, respectively. A third quake in Irving the next day registered at 2.1. The quakes were strong enough to be felt, but there have been no reports of the seismic shifts causing any damages or injuries. “Anything that can be felt is a noticeable earthquake in Texas,” geography professor Reid Ferring said. North Texas does not have the geological conditions necessary to create large earthquakes, and historical data indicates that the recent seismic activity is not necessarily indicative of future earthquakes, Ferring said. Environmental activists questioned whether there was a connection between the quakes and gas drilling at the Barnett Shale in North Texas. A recent study conducted by Cliff Frohlich, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas’ Institute for Geophysics, found a connection between injection wells used to dispose of fracking wastewater – a byproduct of a drilling method used frequently in North Texas – and small quakes in North Texas. The study found that most earthquakes in the Barnett Shale region occur within a few miles of one or more injection wells used to dispose of wastes associated with petroleum production, according to a University of Texas press release. The study indicates that fracking itself does not lead to an increase in earthquakes, but that there is some correlation between disposal of fracking wastewater and tiny quakes. Other experts have said there is little connection between gas drilling in North Texas and these recent earthquakes. Seismologist and SMU professor Brian Stump told NBC News that he does not believe fracking or gas drilling was a cause for the earthquakes, and Ferring said last month’s tremors were likely just fluke occurrences. “It could just be a really natural rare event and very difficult to relate to any human activity,” Ferring said. According to the United States Geological Survey, the largest earthquake ever recorded in Texas was a 5.8 in 1931 near Valentine, Texas. “They may be alarming to some people. We don’t like to hear our houses shake,” Ferring said. “But I don’t think there’s any real threat to property, to buildings, to people or to water that we drink.”

October 9, 2012 – ANTARTICA – A preliminary 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck 452 miles northwest of the Balleny Islands region early this morning at 2:32 a.m., but presented no tsunami threat to Hawaii, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The earthquake struck at a depth of about 6.3 miles. The Balleny Islands are a series of uninhabited volcanic islands that are part of Antarctica. –Star Advisor

October 9, 2012 – AZERBAIJAN - At the International Seismology Conference taking place in Baku American scientist and seismologist Robert King has informed that in Baku and Absheron peninsula it is expected an increase in seismic activity as a result of compression fracture between the Minor and the Greater Caucasus. “Our research showed that the Arabian and Eurasian lithospheric plate is characterized by high strength, and as a result they do not deform internally, and tremors are the result of oceanic activity, located between these territories. In the entire Caucasus a fault is observed, in the south and the north there is some movement and deformation in the lowlands between the Minor and the Greater Caucasus. In the Baku seismic zone the speed of fault is 12 mm a year over 100 km. At that, to the south of Baku it is observed fracture and displacement of the Earth’s crust in the direction of the Caspian Sea, where compression takes place that will lead to a narrowing of the Caspian Sea. At the same time, we find it difficult to predict the results of all the occurring processes,” he said. According to Mr. King, in order to predict the results of the occurring processes it is needed to determine whether a similar contraction is in the depths of the earth, develop a range of different geodetic models, neo-tectonics, a map of faults that will be possible as the installation of 25 new seismic stations. “To continue the research, stations should be installed at a distance of 5-10 km from each other on the perimeter of the fault. It is necessary to invest in this as much money as has already been invested in the purchase and installation of stations in order to study the processes occurring in the soil, as well as raising of the level of oil reservoirs. All these studies are important in order to determine possible effects of very large deformations that occur to the south of Baku, in order to prepare for a possible earthquake,” he said. –ABC.az

October 12, 2012 – INDONESIA - A magnitude 6.7 earthquake has struck eastern Indonesia near the Aru Islands. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake was originally measured at 6.9. It struck at a depth of 33 kilometers, 80 kilometers north-northwest of Dobo on the Aru Islands. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a destructive widespread tsunami was not likely to be generated by the earthquake. However, it said there was a small possibility of a local tsunami. People in the northern Australian city of Darwin reported feeling the tremors. Today’s earthquake is the fifth 6.0+ magnitude earthquake recorded in the month of October. –Radio Australia

DATE LAT LON MAG DEPTH km REGION
14-OCT-2012 11:11:34 38.22 144.31 5.6 16.9 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
14-OCT-2012 10:13:39 41.83 46.40 5.2 10.0 EASTERN CAUCASUS
14-OCT-2012 10:08:24 41.69 46.39 4.4 9.5 EASTERN CAUCASUS
14-OCT-2012 09:58:25 60.07 -152.61 4.4 95.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
14-OCT-2012 09:41:58 48.32 154.46 5.8 33.7 KURIL ISLANDS
14-OCT-2012 09:25:10 36.12 70.23 4.1 120.2 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
14-OCT-2012 06:16:48 -2.59 142.29 4.9 25.4 NEAR N COAST OF NEW GUINEA, PNG.
14-OCT-2012 04:58:07 -7.19 156.06 5.9 60.8 SOLOMON ISLANDS
14-OCT-2012 03:42:25 4.55 125.16 4.7 42.7 TALAUD ISLANDS, INDONESIA
14-OCT-2012 03:37:31 -34.62 -72.29 4.7 23.1 NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE
14-OCT-2012 01:02:40 -2.76 100.07 4.9 27.5 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
13-OCT-2012 23:07:52 -2.52 142.30 4.7 6.7 NEAR N COAST OF NEW GUINEA, PNG.
13-OCT-2012 22:36:31 -16.96 -174.44 5.1 47.4 TONGA ISLANDS
13-OCT-2012 18:44:12 41.74 46.34 4.6 17.4 EASTERN CAUCASUS
13-OCT-2012 17:59:07 36.68 71.14 4.5 202.9 AFGHANISTAN-TAJIKISTAN BORD REG.
13-OCT-2012 17:52:50 -19.90 -173.95 5.0 25.6 TONGA ISLANDS
13-OCT-2012 10:03:59 -11.10 162.84 5.1 51.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
13-OCT-2012 08:25:45 -22.22 170.48 4.9 35.0 LOYALTY ISLANDS REGION
13-OCT-2012 07:08:39 37.56 95.73 4.8 10.0 QINGHAI, CHINA
13-OCT-2012 01:24:54 16.81 -100.22 4.4 30.8 NEAR COAST OF GUERRERO, MEXICO
12-OCT-2012 21:26:34 -23.65 -67.93 5.2 114.3 CHILE-ARGENTINA BORDER REGION
12-OCT-2012 21:10:57 27.72 139.78 4.6 483.5 BONIN ISLANDS REGION
12-OCT-2012 19:24:15 9.58 -84.30 4.2 45.3 COSTA RICA
12-OCT-2012 19:01:02 3.01 126.83 4.7 59.5 TALAUD ISLANDS, INDONESIA
12-OCT-2012 18:53:02 14.42 120.62 4.8 130.2 LUZON, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
12-OCT-2012 12:16:19 10.51 -62.81 4.9 12.3 NEAR COAST OF VENEZUELA
12-OCT-2012 04:57:21 35.76 140.46 5.2 34.9 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
12-OCT-2012 04:31:03 1.63 -90.64 4.4 9.6 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS REGION
12-OCT-2012 03:18:49 28.33 138.71 4.6 500.9 BONIN ISLANDS REGION
12-OCT-2012 02:34:59 1.49 -90.75 4.4 10.0 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS REGION
12-OCT-2012 01:34:52 -4.84 133.81 4.9 27.8 IRIAN JAYA REGION, INDONESIA
12-OCT-2012 01:29:16 -4.98 133.90 4.9 12.0 IRIAN JAYA REGION, INDONESIA
12-OCT-2012 00:31:29 -4.91 134.03 6.7 22.0 IRIAN JAYA REGION, INDONESIA

October 17, 2012 – INDONESIA - Jakarta: An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted off North Sulawesi province in eastern Indonesia on Wednesday but neither tsunami alert was triggered nor casualties or damages were reported. Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said that the quake happened at 11:42 a.m. Jakarta time (04:42 GMT) with epicenter at 113 km northwest of Kepulauan Sangihe in the province at the depth of 308 km under sea bed. The U.S. Geological Survey said that the earthquake measuring 6. 0 on the Richter scale jolted Celebes Sea between Sulawesi and Mindanao. Head of Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency in Sangihe district, Rintj Sambato, said that there was no building damages or casualties. Indonesia sits on the so called “Pacific Ring of Fire” vulnerable to seismic and volcanic activity. –Zee News


October 17, 2012 - PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An earthquake in southern Maine has rattled nearby New England states. The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the 4.0 magnitude quake was about 3 miles west of Hollis Center, Maine, and about 3 miles deep. That location is about 20 miles west of Portland. The quake was felt in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, including Boston, and as far south as Rhode Island and Connecticut. The Maine Emergency Management Agency had no immediate reports of damage. The York County Communications Center near the epicenter was inundated with emergency calls, and dispatchers were too busy to talk. -Whdh


October 16, 2012 – NEVADA – Some rattling and rolling in the area has earthquake experts on alert. In the past week more than 100 small earthquakes have shaken the earth beneath Spanish Springs. So far they’ve been too small to feel, but quake experts want you to know they’re happening. There’s no reason to panic – but it’s a good reminder to make sure you’re prepared. “People can consider certain mitigation steps in case these earthquakes increase in intensity and there’s a larger one,” said Ken Smith, associate director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory. Smith says most injuries from earthquakes are caused by falling or flying objects – and you don’t want to wait for a big quake to get ready. “Secure your water heaters. Secure your valuables. Secure your book cases,” Smith said. It’s not strange for a dozen quakes this size to happen in a week, but there have been at least 115 since October 8, and about 60 of those have been since Thursday. “These things are totally unpredictable,” Smith said. “It could stop today, or it could keep going at a level of very small events that no one would feel.” Or they could get stronger. So far, they’re small – with the biggest two quakes shaking at magnitude one – but there’s potential for one that really rocks Reno. “We have faults around here that are capable of magnitude seven type events,” Smith said. So this week the Great Nevada Shakeout will teach people to drop, cover and hold-on just in case there’s a big quake. It’s Nevada’s largest earthquake drill and it’s this Thursday, October 18 at 10:18 am. –KRNV

October 20, 2012 – EGYPT – A 5.3 (5.0 USGS) magnitude earthquake hit Alexandria early on Friday morning. Hatem Oada, head of the National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research, said in a statement to the state-run MENA news agency that regional seismic networks indicate the tremor hit at 5:35 am, Cairo time. No damages or injuries have been reported. The epicenter of the quake was in the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Delta. This region is not typically seismically active, Oada said. –Egypt Independent

DATE LAT LON MAG DEPTH km REGION
20-OCT-2012 08:49:38 24.45 122.53 4.1 78.8 TAIWAN REGION
20-OCT-2012 03:42:05 10.94 -74.14 4.6 49.7 NEAR NORTH COAST OF COLOMBIA
20-OCT-2012 02:49:15 30.12 131.00 4.5 21.1 KYUSHU, JAPAN
20-OCT-2012 00:25:51 -32.21 -71.93 4.3 21.4 NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE
19-OCT-2012 23:27:46 44.11 -121.34 6.0 0.0 OREGON

California is Rockin...
http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com

Sunday October 21 2012, 07:41:16 UTC 3 minutes ago Central California 2.5 10.2 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:40:01 UTC 4 minutes ago Central California 1.9 6.9 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:37:47 UTC 6 minutes ago Central California 3.7 9.5 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:28:38 UTC 15 minutes ago Southern California 1.5 8.5 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:27:05 UTC 17 minutes ago Central California 1.6 8.9 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:24:18 UTC 19 minutes ago Central California 1.7 4.7 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:18:03 UTC 26 minutes ago Central California 3.1 8.0 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:17:10 UTC 27 minutes ago Central California 1.6 9.2 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:16:21 UTC 27 minutes ago Central California 1.8 8.3 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:16:07 UTC 28 minutes ago Central Turkey 2.8 13.0 CSEM-EMSC Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:15:48 UTC 28 minutes ago Central California 2.2 9.6 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:15:12 UTC 29 minutes ago Puerto Rico region 2.8 13.0 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:14:35 UTC 29 minutes ago Central California 1.8 6.4 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:14:02 UTC 30 minutes ago Central California 1.9 7.4 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:13:17 UTC 30 minutes ago Central California 1.5 7.5 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:10:24 UTC 33 minutes ago Central California 2.3 8.2 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:06:44 UTC 37 minutes ago Central California 2.1 7.5 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:06:15 UTC 38 minutes ago Central California 2.2 8.4 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:05:10 UTC 39 minutes ago Central California 2.0 7.0 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:04:24 UTC 39 minutes ago Central California 2.2 9.0 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:03:38 UTC 40 minutes ago Central California 1.9 7.5 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:02:37 UTC 41 minutes ago Central California 1.9 7.8 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 07:01:48 UTC 42 minutes ago Central California 2.2 7.1 USGS Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 06:55:22 UTC 48 minutes ago Central California 4.9 80.0 CSEM-EMSC Feed Detail
Sunday October 21 2012, 06:55:09 UTC 49 minutes ago Central California 5.3 9.4 USGS Feed Detail

October 21, 2012 – ICELAND – A 4.8 and 5.7 earthquake struck north of Iceland near Siglufjörður, which is home to a thriving community built along the inner coastline. The quakes struck along the northern end of the divergent rift or Mid-Atlantic Ridge that runs through the center of Iceland. The quakes ignited a swarm of hundreds of tremors. A series of 3.0+ magnitude tremors have also occurred in the vicinity of the Krafla volcano, which last erupted in 1985. The Krafla central volcano, located NE of Myvatn Lake, is a topographically indistinct 10-km-wide caldera that is cut by a N-S-trending fissure system. Eruption of a rhyolitic welded tuff about 100,000 years ago was associated with formation of the caldera. Krafla has been the source of many rifting and eruptive events during the Holocene, including two in historical time, during 1724-29 and 1975-84. –The Extinction Protocol


6.2 magnitude earthquake strikes near Vanuatu Island
October 21, 2012 –VANUATU – A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake rattled the South Pacific island of Vanuatu Sunday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued. The quake struck at 10:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday) 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of the capital Port Vila at a depth of 35 kilometers, the United States Geological Survey said. The USGS had earlier put the magnitude at 6.6 but the quake was down-graded to a 6.2 magnitude. Vanuatu lies on the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a zone of frequent seismic activity caused by friction between shifting tectonic plates. It has been rocked by several large quakes in recent years, averaging about three magnitudes 7.0 or above incidents every year without any major damage. –The West


5.3 quake strikes Central CA: A moderate earthquake was widely felt as it rattled the central California coast, but authorities said it didn’t cause any damage. The U.S. Geological Survey said nearly 5,000 people reported on its website that they felt the magnitude 5.3 quake, when it struck shortly before midnight Saturday near King City, about 40 miles southeast of Salinas. USGS geophysicist Amy Vaughan says the temblor struck along the San Andreas Fault and was followed by at least four aftershocks that were greater than magnitude 2.5. The San Andreas Fault forms the main strand of the plate boundary, running from the Gulf of California (Baja California, Mexico) north to the region of Cape Mendocino. The fault in the San Francisco Bay region is a largely strike-slip fault running through the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Gulf of the Farallons west of the Golden Gate, through Tomales Bay and Bodega Bay, and north to Fort Ross and Point Arena.The sheriff departments for Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties both said they have no reports of any damage. “We did have people call in but there no reports of any damage,” said Shawna Schaffer, a dispatch with the San Luis Obispo department. Vaughan said a magnitude 5 quake is capable of causing damage, most often knocking things to fall off shelves and making moderate cracks in walls and foundations. –ABC


October 20, 2012 – EGYPT – A 5.3 (5.0 USGS) magnitude earthquake hit Alexandria early on Friday morning. Hatem Oada, head of the National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research, said in a statement to the state-run MENA news agency that regional seismic networks indicate the tremor hit at 5:35 am, Cairo time. No damages or injuries have been reported. The epicenter of the quake was in the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Delta. This region is not typically seismically active, Oada said. –Egypt Independent

We are about an hour away from where this quake hit and it certainly got our attention. Haven't felt any of the many aftershocks though.

DATE LAT LON MAG DEPTH km REGION
24-OCT-2012 07:05:42 36.45 140.76 4.3 69.2 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
24-OCT-2012 06:50:48 54.78 -163.54 4.7 90.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION
24-OCT-2012 01:55:27 10.05 -85.50 4.5 11.1 COSTA RICA
24-OCT-2012 01:36:43 16.58 -97.34 4.3 46.8 OAXACA, MEXICO
24-OCT-2012 00:45:39 10.15 -85.33 6.5 67.0 COSTA RICA
24-OCT-2012 00:02:52 -4.74 145.24 4.6 51.8 NEAR N COAST OF NEW GUINEA, PNG.
23-OCT-2012 22:15:28 -18.42 -177.82 4.5 628.7 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
23-OCT-2012 21:55:16 38.76 142.35 4.7 42.2 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
23-OCT-2012 19:11:52 2.15 92.45 4.6 29.0 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
23-OCT-2012 18:00:43 -6.58 147.92 5.1 38.3 EASTERN NEW GUINEA REG., P.N.G.
23-OCT-2012 17:47:56 -6.64 147.92 4.8 53.4 EASTERN NEW GUINEA REG., P.N.G.
23-OCT-2012 16:34:18 -10.81 113.65 4.2 25.9 SOUTH OF JAWA, INDONESIA
23-OCT-2012 16:17:56 42.09 47.70 4.1 20.6 EASTERN CAUCASUS
23-OCT-2012 15:20:42 38.96 20.66 4.7 10.0 GREECE
23-OCT-2012 10:45:21 -25.72 -70.56 4.8 32.4 NEAR COAST OF NORTHERN CHILE
23-OCT-2012 09:39:31 -22.32 171.68 6.0 127.0 LOYALTY ISLANDS REGION
23-OCT-2012 09:33:19 -57.58 148.08 5.2 10.0 WEST OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
23-OCT-2012 08:53:38 29.06 139.24 5.9 436.0 SOUTH OF HONSHU, JAPAN
23-OCT-2012 05:38:28 -8.99 124.11 4.5 103.0 TIMOR REGION, INDONESIA
23-OCT-2012 04:36:06 -24.62 -179.88 4.9 518.8 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
23-OCT-2012 00:37:10 39.59 143.01 4.7 41.1 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
23-OCT-2012 00:21:11 14.24 -89.85 4.5 257.1 GUATEMALA


October 24, 2012 – COSTA RICA - An earthquake initially reported as 6.5 magnitude on the Richter scale by USGS has just rocked Costa Rica. Local media is reporting magnitudes from 6.2 to 6.4. The epicenter is being reported as being 5km northeast of Hojancha in the province of Guanacaste, or 7km southeast of Nicoya, the location of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake which struck Costa Rica on September 5th. Reports of strong shaking are being reported throughout the entire country. Strong shaking was felt in the capital city of San Jose. Various other reports of strong shaking have been reported throughout the province of Guanacaste. Various agencies are issuing initial warnings about possible tsunamis. This is a breaking news story and Inside Costa Rica will provide live updates on this page as additional information is available. The earthquake was felt extremely strong as far away as Limon. Unlike the September 5th earthquake, this one was far more shallow. Aftershocks have already occurred. Some agencies are now saying there is NO tsunami alert. Inside Costa Rica has received some damage reports from the province of Guanacaste including cracked walls and broken glass. UPDATE 3: (7:30pm): Some areas of San Ramon in Alajuela are without electricity. There are also areas of Guanacaste without electricity. Local authorities are saying that the quake struck at a depth of just 6km, which is why it was felt so strongly throughout the country. The quake was felt as far away as the neighboring country of Nicaragua. UPDATE 4: (7:33pm) – Authorities say there is NO tsunami alert. UPDATE 5: (7:38pm) – CCSS (Costa Rican Social Security / Public Health) says they have no reports of damages to public hospitals or clinics at this time. –Inside Costa Rica


October 24, 2012 – VIETNAM - A series of tremors measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale broke out in the district at 9:42 pm Monday and lasted for about three seconds, said Le Van Tuan, chief of the district People’s Committee’s Secretariat. Thousands of locals rushed out of their houses in panic after they heard loud blasts and felt the ground shaking, houses’ walls cracking, and things inside the houses falling, Tuan said. “Many items on a table in my house fell down to the floor and my children cried and screamed when hearing explosions that sounded like the sounds of bombings,” he said. This quake could be felt by people living in districts nearby such as Nam Tra My, Tien Phuoc, Phuoc Son and Nong Son, he added. Vu Duc Toan, deputy head of the Hydropower Management Board No. 3, said that the earthquake accelerator installed at the hydropower plant area indicated a ground acceleration of 98 cm/s2. This data has been reported to the Global Physics Institute. The quake’s statistics are being handled by the Institute and the Earthquake Information and Tsunami Warning Center, Toan said. Last night Dr. Nguyen Hong Phuong, deputy director of the center, confirmed that the quake was 4.6 degrees and its epicenter was 7 km below ground. This is the strongest quake to hit the area since 1957, the center said. The second strongest quake in the area so far occurred on September 3, measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale. As previously reported, the first earthquake observation station in the district was put into operation on October 19. More than 20 quakes have occurred in the region in the past several months. This is the first among five planned stations to be built in the district to monitor such quakes, which experts say have been induced by the plant’s reservoir, authorities said. The station will record all seismic developments of any reservoir-induced earthquakes, irrespective of how minor they are, in the area, said Dr. Nguyen Xuan Anh, head of the Global Physics Institute. -Tuoitrenews

October 26, 2012 – ICELAND - Icelandic authorities warned people in the north of the island on Thursday to prepare for a possible big earthquake after the biggest tremors in the area for 20 years. The north Atlantic island, where almost 320,000 people live, is a hotspot of volcanic and seismic activity as it straddles a fault in the earth’s surface. The Civil Protection Department said in a statement that recent small quakes in an area under the sea about 20 km (12 miles) off the north of Iceland had prompted it to issue a warning to local people. It said such shocks, one of which was a magnitude 5.6, often led to stronger quakes. Warnings were issued when there were grounds to expect a natural or manmade event that could threaten health and human safety, it added. “People are anxious because they don’t know what might happen,” said Amundi Gunnarsson, chief of the fire brigade in Fjallabyggd, one of the small towns in the area, and a member of the Civil Protection Department. “At the same time, life goes on as usual. People are going to work and children are going to school, but everyone is on alert,” he told Reuters by telephone. The coastal area in the north is home to several small towns and a population of several thousand people. The biggest town in the north of Iceland, Akureyri, has a population of about 17,000 people, and lies roughly 100 km south of the seismic activity. Geologist Benedikt Ofeigsson said houses in Iceland could typically withstand quakes of a magnitude about 7. “Of course there could be some damage to in walls and concrete in such strong earthquakes, but what is important that houses have stood firm,” he told Reuters. -Yahoo


October 26, 2012 – ITALY – A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck north of Cosenza in southern Italy early on Friday, and police said a hospital had been evacuated after cracks were found in its structure, but there were no reports of injuries. The quake hit at 1:05 a.m. (2305 GMT on Thursday) about 3.8 km (2.4 miles) underground, north of Cosenza in the Pollino mountains area on the border of the southern regions of Calabria and Basilicata, according to data from the Italian Geophysics Institute (INGV). It said on its website that at least 14 other tremors followed the initial earthquake. An Italian police official told Reuters a hospital in the small town of Mormanno had been evacuated as a precautionary measure because some cracks were found in its structure. Italian news agencies reported scenes of panic in the hospital and said many inhabitants of Mormanno and surrounding towns had come out in the streets. At least one death has been reported due to the quake. –Jerusalem Post Courier Mail


October 27, 2012 – NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — A loud, unexplained noise set off dozens of calls to the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Friday morning after residents reported hearing an explosion so loud it shook their homes. It was the mystery boom heard ’round the world – or at least Niagara County that caused the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office to field dozens of calls similar to this exchange from concerned residents: Dispatch: “Niagara County 911 what’s your emergency?” Caller: …I heard an explosion and my windows all shook. Dispatch: “You don’t see any fire or anything? Caller: “No. No, I don’t.” No fire and no damage but after several reports just after midnight Friday, Niagara County Undersheriff Michael J. Filicetti said deputies went to investigate. “We actually had several units respond down to the, mostly it was the Newfane area, Town of Somerset, Barker area,” he explained. “They checked around and couldn’t find anything.” But they were offered plenty of suggestions, everything ranging from a sonic boom to a meteor. “As of early this morning, we still hadn’t figured out what caused it,” Filicetti said. According to officials at Columbia University, it’s not out of the question for tremors like Friday’s to be caused by landslides, sonic booms or even a meteor. In this case, however, the source turned out to be a 2.5 magnitude earthquake centered in the Town of Barker. So how do you explain that mystery boom? “They likely experienced a jolt, and that jolt would likely set one’s house in motion and I suspect that’s the noise they heard,” Andrew Whittaker explained. Whittaker, a structural engineering professor from the University at Buffalo, said it’s a common occurrence with minor earthquakes so close to the surface. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the area sits on a fault line and experiences several very minor quakes every few years, though none of any apocalyptic proportions. “We have no evidence whatsoever that a large magnitude event is around the corner,” Whittaker said. -Rochesterynn

October 27, 2012 – CALIFORNIA – Earthquake swarms and a region-wide rotten egg smell recently reminded Southern California residents they live next to an active volcano field, tiny though it may be. At the time, scientists said the phenomena did not reflect changes in the magma chamber below the Salton Sea. But now, researchers may need to revise estimates of the potential hazard posed by the Salton Buttes — five volcanoes at the lake’s southern tip. The buttes last erupted between 940 and 0 B.C., not 30,000 years ago, as previously thought, a new study detailed online Oct. 15 in the journal Geology reports. The new age — which makes these some of California’s youngest volcanoes — pushes the volcanic quintuplets into active status. The California Volcano Observatory, launched in February by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), already lists the area as a high threat for future blasts. “The USGS is starting to monitor all potentially active volcanoes in California, which includes the Salton Buttes,” said study author Axel Schmitt, a geochronologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “With our results, I think this will further enhance the need to look into the system,” Schmitt told OurAmazingPlanet. The buttes exist because California is tearing apart, forming new oceanic crust as magma wells up from below. The sinking Salton Trough is the landward extension of the Gulf of California, and marks the boundary between the Pacific and North America tectonic plates. In August, an earthquake swarm shook the nearby town of Brawley. The USGS attributed the temblors to faults in the Brawley Seismic Zone. In September, a sulfurous stench emanated from the Salton Sea and wafted across the Inland Empire. The odor was tentatively linked to a fish die-off, but could also have been caused by volcanic gases, Stock said. –Yahoo News