Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

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funkervogt
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

Post by funkervogt »

Major volcanic eruptions are a bigger threat to civilization than most people realize. Some scientists say we should study ways to detect such eruptions farther in advance, and the defuse them by drilling small vent shafts into the magma chambers.
Over the next century, large-scale volcanic eruptions are hundreds of times more likely to occur than are asteroid and comet impacts, put together4. The climatic impact of these events is comparable, yet the response is vastly different. ‘Planetary defence’ receives hundreds of millions of dollars in funding each year, and has several global agencies devoted to it. In September, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will try to nudge an asteroid’s trajectory, testing capabilities for future asteroid deflection. That advance-preparation project will cost over US$300 million. By contrast, there is no coordinated action, nor large-scale investment, to mitigate the global effects of large-magnitude eruptions. This needs to change.

...Being able to affect volcanic behaviour directly might seem inconceivable, but so did the deflection of asteroids until the formation of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office in 2016. Numerous examples from geothermal exploration show that it is technically possible to penetrate magmatic bodies in the crust with little collateral damage. In 2024, researchers plan to drill into a magma pocket at the Krafla test bed in Iceland, to provide a ‘long-term magma observatory’ and test sensing equipment to potentially improve volcanic prediction. Research should also be undertaken to assess if it is possible to manipulate the magma or surrounding rocks to moderate eruption explosivity — one such project, Magma Outgassing During Eruptions and Geothermal Exploration, has funding from the European Research Council to 2026.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02177-x
unnaturalmilk
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

Post by unnaturalmilk »

What are some future earthquakes which could plausibly happen within a few centuries (Or even decades)?
I'll start with one that I'm surprised is not at the FutureTimeline timeline: The earthquake that will hit Peru (Especially Lima, with a population of over 10 million), within decades
This is a news article from the Governmentof Peru mentioning this:
https://www.gob.pe/institucion/igp/noti ... luso-mayor
It's in Spanish, but the title can be roughly translated as "The Central Region of Peru could experience an earthquake like Pisco's ((A 2007 earthquake)) or even worse in the future"
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caltrek
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

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Surprising Discovery Shows a Slowing of Continental Plate Movement Controlled the Timing of Earth’s Largest Volcanic Events
September 9, 2022

Introduction:
(Science Alert) Scientists have shed new light on the timing and likely cause of major volcanic events that occurred millions of years ago and caused such climatic and biological upheaval that they drove some of the most devastating extinction events in Earth’s history.

Surprisingly the new research, published today in leading international journal Science Advances, suggests a slowing of continental plate movement was the critical event that enabled magma to rise to the Earth’s surface and deliver the devastating knock-on impacts.

Earth’s history has been marked by major volcanic events, called Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) – the largest of which have caused major increases in atmospheric carbon emissions that warmed Earth’s climate, drove unprecedented changes to ecosystems, and resulted in mass extinctions on land and in the oceans.

Using chemical data from ancient mudstone deposits obtained from a 1.5 km-deep borehole in Wales, an international team led by scientists from Trinity College Dublin’s School of Natural Sciences was able to link two key events from around 183 million years ago (the Toarcian period).

The team discovered that this time period, which was characterised by some of the most severe climatic and environmental changes ever, directly coincided with the occurrence of major volcanic activity and associated greenhouse gas release on the southern hemisphere, in what is nowadays known as southern Africa, Antarctica and Australia.
Read more of the EurekAlert here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/963571

For a technical presentation of the results of the study: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sc ... okieSet=1
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weatheriscool
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Strong earthquake detected in Papua New Guinea
Source: AP

The U.S. Geological Survey has detected a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northeastern Papua New Guinea. The quake hit at 6:46 a.m. Initial readings put the quake at a depth of some 50 to 60 kilometers (30 to 40 miles) located 67 kilometers (42 miles) east of Kainantu, a sparsely populated area.

NOAA has since advised there is no tsunami threat for the area. The extent of damage is not yet clear, but the USGS estimates “some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localized.”

Papua New Guinea is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, to the east of Indonesia and north of eastern Australia. It sits on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire,” the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where much of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic activity occurs.

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 2018 in the nation’s central region killed at least 125 people. That quake hit areas that are remote and undeveloped, and assessments about the scale of the damage and injuries were slow to filter out.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/earthquakes- ... 0001918db2
weatheriscool
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Slowing of continental plate movement controlled the timing of Earth's largest volcanic events
https://phys.org/news/2022-09-continent ... rgest.html
by Trinity College Dublin
Scientists have shed new light on the timing and likely cause of major volcanic events that occurred millions of years ago and caused such climatic and biological upheaval that they drove some of the most devastating extinction events in Earth's history.

Surprisingly, the new research, published today in Science Advances, suggests a slowing of continental plate movement was the critical event that enabled magma to rise to the Earth's surface and deliver the devastating knock-on impacts.

Earth's history has been marked by major volcanic events, called large igneous provinces (LIPs)—the largest of which have caused major increases in atmospheric carbon emissions that warmed Earth's climate, drove unprecedented changes to ecosystems, and resulted in mass extinctions on land and in the oceans.

Using chemical data from ancient mudstone deposits obtained from a 1.5 km-deep borehole in Wales, an international team led by scientists from Trinity College Dublin's School of Natural Sciences was able to link two key events from around 183 million years ago (the Toarcian period).

The team discovered that this time period, which was characterized by some of the most severe climatic and environmental changes ever, directly coincided with the occurrence of major volcanic activity and associated greenhouse gas release on the southern hemisphere, in what is nowadays known as southern Africa, Antarctica and Australia.

On further investigation—and more importantly—the team's plate reconstruction models helped them discover the key fundamental geological process that seemed to control the timing and onset of this volcanic event and others of great magnitude.

Micha Ruhl, assistant professor in Trinity's School of Natural Sciences, led the team. He said, "Scientists have long thought that the onset of upwelling of molten volcanic rock, or magma, from deep in Earth's interior, as mantle plumes, was the instigator of such volcanic activity but the new evidence shows that the normal rate of continental plate movement of several centimeters per year effectively prevents magma from penetrating Earth's continental crust.

"It seems it is only when the speed of continental plate movement slows down to near zero that magmas from mantle plumes can effectively make their way to the surface, causing major large igneous province volcanic eruptions and their associated climatic perturbations and mass extinctions.
weatheriscool
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Strong 6.9-magnitude earthquake hits Taiwan, triggers tsunami warning
https://www-nbcnews-com.cdn.ampproject. ... -rcna48209
Japan issues a tsunami warning near Okinawa, where officials advised residents to stay clear of the coastline.
weatheriscool
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Phase transitions in olivine may be the cause of deep seismic faulting
https://phys.org/news/2022-09-phase-tra ... ismic.html
by Ehime University

Earthquakes which occur at depths of several hundred kilometers in the mantle are called "deep-focus earthquakes". Such earthquakes occasionally result in serious disasters such as the 1994 Bolivian earthquake, which occurred at a depth of 638 km with a magnitude of 8.3.

The cause of deep-focus earthquakes, however, has been a mystery, because earthquakes occur with the rapid sliding of a fault, which is difficult under the great pressures of the deep mantle. Attempts have been made to understand the mechanism of occurrence of deep-focus earthquakes based on laboratory deformation experiments, but experiments under deep mantle conditions have not been made due to technological limitations.

A team has, for the first time, performed deformation experiments on natural olivine, the major mineral of the mantle and subducting oceanic lithosphere (slab), by our state-of-the-art, large-volume, deformation apparatus in combination with synchrotron X-ray observations. They observed the occurrence of major faulting in the sample by X-ray imaging under deep mantle conditions and associated "earthquakes" by ultrasonic acoustic emission measurements.

After careful analyses of the recovered sample, they found the faulting was induced by the growth of "new" olivine with ultra-fine grains of tens of nanometers upon the phase transformation of "old" olivine, which worked as a lubricant for the rapid sliding of the fault. They also found evidence that the sample was locally melted along the fault due to the very high temperature caused by the rapid sliding. Their model, based on these laboratory experiments, well explains the distribution of deep-focus earthquakes, which increase with depths from ~400 km to ~600 km, where the metastable "old" olivine is expected to form ultra-fine grained "new" olivine.
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

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Strong earthquake hits southeastern Taiwan, 146 injured
Source: Reuters
TAIPEI, Sept 18 (Reuters) - A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the sparsely populated southeastern part of Taiwan on Sunday, the island's weather bureau said, derailing train carriages, causing a convenience store to collapse and trapping hundreds on mountain roads.

The weather bureau said the epicentre was in Taitung county, and followed a 6.4 magnitude temblor on Saturday evening in the same area, which caused no casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured Sunday's quake at a magnitude 7.2 and at a depth of 10 km (six miles).

Taiwan's fire department said one person had died and 146 were injured by the quake.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 022-09-18/
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caltrek
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

Post by caltrek »

At Least One Dead After Mexico's Pacific Coast Shaken by Magnitude 7.6 Earthquake
September 19, 2022

Introduction:
(CBS) A magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Mexico's central Pacific coast on Monday, killing at least one person and setting off a seismic alarm in the rattled capital on the anniversary of two earlier devastating quakes. There were no immediate reports of significant damage from the quake that hit at 1:05 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which had initially put the magnitude at 7.5.

It said the quake was centered 23 miles southeast of Aquila near the boundary of Colima and Michoacan states and at a depth of 9.4 miles.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said via Twitter that the secretary of the Navy told him one person was killed in the port city of Manzanillo, Colima, when a wall at a mall collapsed.

Michoacan's Public Security department said there were no immediate reports of significant damage in that state beyond some cracks in buildings in the town of Coalcoman.

Mexico's National Civil Defense agency said that based on historic data of tsunamis in Mexico, variations of as much as 32 inches were possible in coastal water levels near the epicenter. The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center said that hazardous tsunami waves were possible for coasts within 186 miles of the epicenter.
Read more here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-ea ... 022-09-19/
Don't mourn, organize.

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weatheriscool
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Re: Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

7.6 'quake off Mexico, tsunami up
"A 7.6-magnitude earthquake has struck just off the southwestern coast of Mexico, in Michoacan state, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said that tsunami waves reaching up to 3 meters could hit Mexico.


Mexico earthquake: Major quake in Michoacan state followed by tsunami warning - CNN
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