MASSIVE 8+ EARTHQUAKE rattles south of Tasmania

Initial estimates are between 8.1 and 8.4 on the Richter scale. Here's the first link to a regular paper that I found:

www.theaustralian.news.com.au...


"Massive quake hits off Tasmania

December 24, 2004
THE world's biggest earthquake in almost four years has struck 800km off the coast of Tasmania, Australian seismological officials said.

Geoscience Australia said the quake, measuring 8.1 on the Richter Scale, hit the Macquarie Rise in the Pacific Ocean at 1.59am (AEDT).
The earthquake, which occurred half-way between Australia and Antarctica, was felt throughout Tasmania, seismologist Cvetan Sinadinovski said."



[edit on 23-12-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

[edit on 23-12-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

[edit on 23-12-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

[edit on 23-12-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

update from USGS:

earthquake.usgs.gov...


"Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

A great earthquake occurred at 14:59:04 (UTC) on Thursday, December 23, 2004. The magnitude 8.1 event has been located NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.) "



[edit on 23-12-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

The Tsunami bulletin has just been issued (it only concerns the US, but warns that localities might experience tsunamis):


www.prh.noaa.gov...

"TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1519Z 23 DEC 2004

THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT
ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

.................. TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ..................

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING
OR WATCH IN EFFECT.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 1459Z 23 DEC 2004
COORDINATES - 50.1 SOUTH 161.1 EAST
LOCATION - NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
MAGNITUDE - 7.9

EVALUATION

THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC. NO TSUNAMI THREAT
EXISTS TO COASTLINES IN THE PACIFIC.

HOWEVER - THIS EARTHQUAKE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A WIDELY
DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI IN THE SEA NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE. AUTHORITIES
IN THAT REGION SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS POSSIBILITY.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS
FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA."



[edit on 23-12-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

extra data from usgs. Does anyone have a link to a NZ or aussie site that has tsunami/earthquake data?


"
Magnitude 8.1 Date-Time Thursday, December 23, 2004 at 14:59:04 (UTC)
= Coordinated Universal Time
Friday, December 24, 2004 at 1:59:04 AM
= local time at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones Location 50.240�S, 160.133�E Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Region NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND Distances
420 km (260 miles) W of Auckland Island, New Zealand
495 km (305 miles) N of Macquarie Island, Australia
1515 km (940 miles) SW of WELLINGTON, New Zealand
1890 km (1170 miles) SSE of CANBERRA, A.C.T., Australia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 12.1 km (7.5 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters Nst=126, Nph=126, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.33 sec, Gp= 25�,
M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7 Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID ussjal"

Correct me if I am wrong...

But I just looked at the australian gov's geology website and couldn't find a link to tsunami warnings. Perhaps I'm being alarmist here... but isn't there anyone else out there who thinks that this quake could produce a major tsunami?

HOLY CRAP!

That's huge...heck yes it could generate a tsunami!

I'll do some checking.

Yes indeed it was huge.

No Tsunami was generated. No warnings issued. Checked it earlier today

There is no warning system for New Zealand or Australia that I can find. They have "councils", but big damned deal...it's just a contact email address when you click through to them.

That's crazy!

Yahoo Asia is picking up on it now:

He said it was the biggest quake anywhere in the world since one near the coast of Peru in 2001. The 8.4-magnitude temblor on June 23, 2001 killed 74 people, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

*snip*

Sinadinovski said large earthquakes were common in the Macquarie Rise region, occurring every one or two years, but Friday's was the strongest quake there since 1924.

Macquarie Island is the exposed crest of the undersea Macquarie Ridge, at the meeting of two tectonic plates, and is the only place on earth where rocks from the earth's mantle _ which normally is six kilometers (four miles) below the ocean floor _ are exposed above sea level, according to the Australian Antarctic Division's Web site.

Extremely powerful earthquake hits Antarctic island southeast of Australia

Apparently, tsunamis hitting the West Coast are unlikely:

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.1, the year's strongest, shook the ocean floor today about 1,000 miles southwest of New Zealand, with the potential to release tsunamis that were unlikely to reach Pacific coastlines.

link

ed. to correct url





[edit on 23-12-2004 by DontTreadOnMe]

TO - TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM PARTICIPANTS IN
ALASKA/BRITISH COLUMBIA/WASHINGTON/OREGON/CALIFORNIA
FROM - WEST COAST AND ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
SUBJECT - TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN
BULLETIN NUMBER 1
ISSUED 12/23/2004 AT 1520 UTC

...THIS TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN IS FOR ALASKA - BRITISH
COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON AND CALIFORNIA ONLY...

NO - REPEAT NO - WATCH OR WARNING IS IN EFFECT.

EARTHQUAKE DATA
PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE - 7.9
LOCATION - 50.1S 161.1E - NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
TIME - 0559 AST 12/23/2004
0659 PST 12/23/2004
1459 UTC 12/23/2004

EVALUATION
BASED ON LOCATION AND MAGNITUDE THE EARTHQUAKE WAS NOT
SUFFICIENT TO GENERATE A TSUNAMI DAMAGING TO CALIFORNIA -
OREGON - WASHINGTON - BRITISH COLUMBIA OR ALASKA. SOME AREAS MAY
EXPERIENCE SMALL SEA LEVEL CHANGES. IN AREAS OF INTENSE
SHAKING LOCALLY GENERATED TSUNAMIS CAN BE TRIGGERED BY SLUMPING.

THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE TSUNAMI BULLETINS
FOR HAWAII AND OTHER AREAS OF THE PACIFIC.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT BY THE
WEST COAST AND ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER UNLESS CONDITIONS
WARRANT. REFER TO THE INTERNET SITE WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV...
FOR MORE INFORMATION.

from: wcatwc.gov...

and

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING
OR WATCH IN EFFECT.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 1459Z 23 DEC 2004
COORDINATES - 50.1 SOUTH 161.1 EAST
LOCATION - NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
MAGNITUDE - 7.9

EVALUATION

THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC. NO TSUNAMI THREAT
EXISTS TO COASTLINES IN THE PACIFIC.

HOWEVER - THIS EARTHQUAKE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A WIDELY
DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI IN THE SEA NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE. AUTHORITIES
IN THAT REGION SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS POSSIBILITY.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS
FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

from www.prh.noaa.gov...

[edit on 23-12-2004 by jazzgul]

OMG that is huge!

Do you remember the recent prophecies of a huge tsunami hitting America recently? That's scary.

I guess the conditions weren't right. I suppose it would take a large crack and some water dispersement before a Tsunami occured. Thank goodness that quake wasn't in California.

Hey, OIMD!

It took them four days, but mainstream media just caught up with us! Lookie! There's no tsunami tracking system in the Indian Ocean!

We could've told them that, huh???

www.msnbc.msn.com...

It's starting to look like this was the prelude to the earthquake off of Indonesia. (see the ATSNN story Massive 9.0 Quake, Tsunamis Strike Indonesia & SE Asia - 35,000+ Dead. Makes me wonder if a major earthquake like this can set off another delicate situation. Seems to make sense.



[edit on 27-12-2004 by dbates]