The Geology News Blog

No Yellowstone Evacuation Warning Issued

USGS Newsroom — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:10:34 +0000

The USGS is not affiliated with a web site that recommends evacuation of Yellowstone National Park and bears the USGS logo. The USGS is not recommending the evacuation of the Park.

Officials at the USGS are working through the appropriate legal channels to have both the warning and logo removed from the web site.

Yesterday, the USGS issued a press release announcing that the swarm of earthquakes has stopped for now and may have ceased entirely.

“Changes in the alert level are announced through the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Web site“, reports YVO Scientist-in-Charge, Dr. Jake Lowenstern. “If an evacuation order were necessary, it would be handled through Yellowstone National Park and neighboring communities.

YVO is a cooperative project of USGS, the University of Utah, and Yellowstone National Park. Under the Stafford Act, the USGS has the Federal responsibility to issue warnings of potential volcanic disasters.

For a podcast interview with USGS scientists on the recent earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park, listen to Episode 80 of CoreCast at http://www.usgs.gov/corecast/.

[Via USGS]

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Geology Links for January 6th, 2009 through January 7th, 2009

Dave Schumaker — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:56:59 +0000

Links from del.icio.us, tagged with geology for January 6th, 2009 through January 7th, 2009:

This list is automatically generated from links tagged with “geology” by users of del.icio.us. Some duplicates may appear in this list from multiple users sharing the same link.

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Is Something Brewing in Yellowstone?

USGS Newsroom — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:53:49 +0000

Yellowstone National Park has experienced several hundred small earthquakes in the past few weeks. So what’s going on?

Dr. Jake Lowenstern, USGS Scientist-In-Charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, tells us what’s happening and how scientists monitor volcano and earthquake activity at Yellowstone.

[Via USGS Corecast]

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Swarm of Earthquake Activity Over For Now at Yellowstone National Park

USGS Newsroom — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:53:41 +0000

The notable swarm of earthquakes that started December 26, 2008, beneath Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park has stopped for now and may have ceased entirely.

This sequence of more than 500 seismic events was most intense on December 27, 2008. The sequence included sixteen events of magnitude 3 to 3.9 and approximately 70 of magnitude 2 to 3 (as of Sunday afternoon, Jan. 4, 2009). Visitors and National Park Service employees in the Yellowstone Lake area reported feeling the largest of these earthquakes.

No damage was reported within Yellowstone National Park. The swarm was in an area of historic earthquake activity and was close to areas of hydrothermal activity on the lake floor. Similar large earthquake swarms have occurred in the past at Yellowstone, without triggering steam explosions or volcanic activity.

Related Podcasts

Is Something Brewing in Yellowstone?

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or subscribe by e-mail.

Listen to a podcast interview with Dr. Jacob Lowenstern, USGS Scientist-In-Charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, about how scientists monitor volcano and earthquake activity at: http://www.usgs.gov/corecast.

To view up-to-date volcano monitoring information at Yellowstone National Park, visit the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Web site. Information on U.S. earthquake activity, including Yellowstone, can be viewed at the Earthquake Hazards Program: Latest Earthquakes in the USA - Last 7 Days Web site. University of Utah news releases about the Yellowstone region can be accessed at the University of Utah’s Earthquake Information Center Web site.

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) was created as a partnership among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone National Park, and University of Utah to strengthen the long-term monitoring of volcanic and earthquake unrest in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.

[Via USGS]

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Earthquake Fatalities High in 2008

USGS Newsroom — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:48:19 +0000

The number of earthquake-related fatalities across the world was much higher in 2008 than in recent years.

About 88,070 deaths resulted from earthquake activity worldwide during 2008, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and confirmed by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This is the largest number of deaths from earthquakes in a year since 2004.

The strongest and most destructive earthquake of 2008 occurred in Eastern Sichuan, China on May 12, claiming at least 69,185 lives. This 7.9 magnitude earthquake injured 374,171 people, while a further 18,467 remain missing and are presumed dead in the Chengdu-Lixian-Guangyuan area. More than 45.5 million people-a total greater than the combined populations of California, Arizona and Nevada-were affected by this earthquake, which struck in one of China’s most densely-populated regions. The event also triggered many landslides, some of which buried large sections of some towns including Beichuan.

In addition to China, earthquakes killed people in 13 countries on 4 continents during the past year, including Algeria, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, and Rwanda.

In the contiguous United States, the highest magnitude earthquake in 2008 occurred at 6.0 on Feb. 21 near Wells, Nev. While no lives were lost as a result of this quake, at least three people were injured and more than 20 buildings were heavily damaged. As in most years, the strongest two earthquakes in the U.S. occurred in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. These two events struck on April 15 and May 1(note that these dates are the local date; because of the extreme western longitude of the Aleutian Islands, the earthquakes occurred on April 16 and May 2 under Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)). The magnitude of both earthquakes was 6.6, but because the Aleutians are so sparsely populated, neither earthquake caused any damage.

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck southeastern Illinois on April 18. Although it caused only slight damage to a few buildings at East Alton, Mount Carmel and West Salem, it was felt throughout the central U.S. including all or parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as in southern Ontario, Canada. This event serves as a reminder that earthquakes can and do occur in eastern North America and that quakes in this area are felt over a much larger area than they are in California.

The USGS estimates that several million earthquakes occur throughout the world each year, although most go undetected because they hit remote areas or have very small magnitudes. The USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) locates about 50 earthquakes per day, or about 20,000 annually. On average, only 18 of these earthquakes occur at a magnitude of 7 or higher each year.

In 2008, only 12 earthquakes reached a magnitude of 7.0 or higher, and no earthquake broke a magnitude of 8.0. These statistics are lower than those of 2007, which experienced 18 earthquakes over magnitude 7.0, but significantly fewer deaths.

Factors such as location and depth of the earthquake, the population density, and stability of infrastructure such as buildings and roads all influence how earthquakes will affect nearby communities. As can be seen from the earthquakes this year in the U.S., a magnitude 6.6 in the Aleutian Islands caused no damage and was felt by a few people on the island of Adak, whereas a much smaller 5.4 earthquake in Illinois was felt across 18 states.

A complete list of 2008 earthquake statistics can be found at the Earthquake Hazards Program: Earthquake Information for 2008 Web site.

To monitor earthquakes worldwide, the USGS NEIC receives data in real-time from nearly 400 stations in 85 countries, including the 150-station Global Seismographic Network, which is jointly supported by USGS and the National Science Foundation and operated by USGS in partnership with the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) consortium of universities.

In the U.S., earthquakes pose significant risk to 75 million people in 40 states. The USGS and its partners in the multi-agency National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program are working to improve earthquake monitoring and reporting capabilities via the USGS Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS). More information about ANSS can be found at the ANSS - Advanced National Seismic System Web site.

[Via USGS]

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Guatemala Landslide Videos

Dave Schumaker — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:33:33 +0000

Picked this up via Dave’s Landslide Blog, incredible video is coming out of Guatemala showing a massive landslide that happened yesterday and killed 33 people.

Some officials said a geological fault triggered the movement of earth, sending huge amounts of mud and rock down a hillside, while other reports suggested road work along the highway could have set off the slide.

Leopoldo Ical, mayor of the nearby San Cristobal Verapaz municipality, said everyone was dismayed by the tragedy.

“The landslide is so big, we don’t have much hope of recovering many more bodies,” he said.
Guatemalan media said the landslide was some 1.5km wide.

Video of yesterday’s landslide is posted below. The failure that occurs at 1:50 minutes is unbelievable.

This same area was struck by a smaller landslide last month, which was also captured on video:

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A Good Geology Movie

Dave Schumaker — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:10:35 +0000

There are plenty of movies that come out of Hollywood that we consider atrocious because of their geology related story lines. However, what would you consider to be a good geology movie?

I have one for you. And it may seem like it’s out of left field.

The Shawshank Redemption.

While geology is only discussed a few times in the film, it becomes a key piece to the underlying story - starting with Andy receiving the rock hammer. And maybe that’s why it’s such a good geology movie - because it really isn’t about geology.

Anyway, if you have never seen it, I recommend that you check it out! Here is the trailer.

You can read more about it on Wikipedia (warning - contains spoilers!).

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Geology Links for January 6th, 2009

Dave Schumaker — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:00:24 +0000

Links from del.icio.us, tagged with geology on January 6th, 2009:

This list is automatically generated from links tagged with “geology” by users of del.icio.us. Some duplicates may appear in this list from multiple users sharing the same link.

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Geology Links for January 5th, 2009

Dave Schumaker — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:00:19 +0000

Links from del.icio.us, tagged with geology on January 5th, 2009:

This list is automatically generated from links tagged with “geology” by users of del.icio.us. Some duplicates may appear in this list from multiple users sharing the same link.

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Geology Links for January 5th, 2009

Dave Schumaker — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:08:11 +0000

Links from del.icio.us, tagged with geology on January 5th, 2009:

This list is automatically generated from links tagged with “geology” by users of del.icio.us. Some duplicates may appear in this list from multiple users sharing the same link.

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The Geology News Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
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