Quake Watch 2011

reply to post by MamaJ

I think we're all a bit addled at the moment.

1) It's Friday. Or if you're Muzzy, it's already Saturday.

2) For me and maybe Puterman and others in this chunk of the globe, it happened right on dinner time. Hard to eat dinner, watch maps, read posts and type all at the same time...

3) For US-based people it's Friday afternoon and that's never the easiest time of the week. Somehow TrueAmerican manages to maintain his analytical skills even on a Friday afternoon, but how he does it, I'll never know...

4) I also wrote my reply to you so I could test out my new-style blinking, bright yellow "reply to" linky... (I believe it's the first one of its type on ATS but am willing to stand corrected.)

5) Ummm... I forget what number 5 was...

Okay, back On Topic
MamaJ, tsunamis can only be generated by undersea quakes if they meet certain conditions. Generally, there needs to be a large amount of thrusting to cause a major tsunami -- as was the case with Japan in March and also the huge quake of Dec 2004, for example.

There are other undersea events that can cause tsunamis, such as the one off Newfoundland many years back that was triggered by an undersea landslide following a rather large quake. However, it seems to mostly be the result of megathrust events.

Muzzy and others: on the USGS location maps I couldn't see any fault line in the quake epicentre area. Is this correct and it was an intra-plate quake, or is the map in error?

Also, some of those seismo traces linked to, show that the rumbling went on for a fair while. I know that this is not uncommon with big quakes, but how much of that would be representative of major energy release?

Mike

It just got downgraded again to a 7.4.

I wondered why the technical data was taking so long.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

deleted

Originally posted by JustMike
I've had some issues with GEE in the past couple of days so Murphy's Law being in effect, I wasn't running it and so I missed this quake entirely.

Oh, I see you haven't been following the newly resurfaced GEE network status thread.
Might wanna save that one:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

In the last posts we bitch, moan, complain, email, and celebrate when the squeaky wheel finally gets lubed good.

In other words, good old USC got er dun, and GEE works again.

reply to post by JustMike




Try Google Earth

They just updated all the data

neic.usgs.gov...

GRRRRRR....Not my day...I go off and play with somebody's feet and the Earth moves.....AGAIN!
This from Earthquake Report.....If you visit it here
earthquake-report.com...
You'll find all the readings have been crossed out...quite funny really!

Earthquake summary : A massive M 7.6 earthquake struck in the open sea in the Kermadec Island region. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did issue a Tsunami alert for Tonga or New Zealand. It was later canceled without any real tsunami. To read the full story as it happened, we advise our readers to start at the bottom of the page (earthquake data) and to continue up. It will read as a written movie of the events. Click on the image to watch our short video or on this link.
Read also : Understanding the Magnitude 7.6 Kermadec Islands earthquake (July 6, 2011)

This is the report of the October 21 2011 magnitude 7.6 earthquake
M 7.5 7.3 7.6 2011/10/21 17:57 Depth 39.8 km KERMADEC ISLANDS
October 22, 2011 at 05:57:17 AM at epicenter

Thay have settled on a 7.6!
Rainbows
Jane

reply to post by TrueAmerican

Ta muchly! Excellent! I am definitely bookmarking that one!

reply to post by PuterMan

Thank you, my friend.

And there you go... Friday night, I'm knackered -- and I didn't even think to drop the coordinates in Google Earth...

But looking at your posted image... Crumbs... That is right on the subduction boundary.

Thank heavens it was "only" a mid-7 and not a mag bigger. Yes, I know a mag bigger means roughly 32x energy release and hence is much rarer, but all the same, I'm sure you share my sentiments.

I'm taking a little break. Best regards to you both.

Mike

Originally posted by angelchemuel

Thay have settled on a 7.6!
Rainbows
Jane

Hello Jane,


Actually.... USGS now has it as a 7.4. So, they're not quite decided yet. Not unusual for them to make several adjustments, though. Just this time they're -- oh, not sure yet, I suppose. It's always an averaging process anyway.

Mike

Apparently it is now being picked up at El Hierro, La Palma and Etna. They have 'wound back' (whatever that means:puz the seismogramms at El Hierro so as not to worry the locals! Read is at Eruptions blogg here
www.wired.com...
and here on Jon Friemanns blogg
www.jonfr.com...
apparently there, they are really mad because it would appear they have been messing about with the seismographs at El Hierro....Jon is fumming as it is 'irresponsible'!.....scroll way down towards the bottom for latest
Rainbows
Jane

PS...Thank you for my rainbow smiley Mike

4) I also wrote my reply to you so I could test out my new-style blinking, bright yellow "reply to" linky... (I believe it's the first one of its type on ATS but am willing to stand corrected.) 5) Ummm... I forget what number 5 was... Okay, back On Topic MamaJ, tsunamis can only be generated by undersea quakes if they meet certain conditions. Generally, there needs to be a large amount of thrusting to cause a major tsunami -- as was the case with Japan in March and also the huge quake of Dec 2004, for example. There are other undersea events that can cause tsunamis, such as the one off Newfoundland many years back that was triggered by an undersea landslide following a rather large quake. However, it seems to mostly be the result of megathrust events.

reply to post by JustMike


HAHA! I do love the yellow and I completely understand wanting to "stand out" ....who wants to be the norm anyway...not us.

Thank you for the information. I needed clarification and you obliged.... many thanks! Have fun on your break.

reply to post by JustMike


Well after taking it all in, looking at the phase data, the waveform, the amplitudes, propagation, and a few other tricks up my sleeve, my final estimate on that quake is 6.8 to 7. Means nothing, I know. I don't expect it to be revised down, but it might be. And PM, when I said 6+, at least, I hadn't even seen the whole waveform yet! Cut a quaketard some slack, will ya?

reply to post by angelchemuel


There is something seriously wrong with that report.

They are saying the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre alert was cancelled - it was never issued - and the one they are showing is for the 6th July.

ORIGIN TIME - 1903Z 06 JUL 2011
COORDINATES - 29.4 SOUTH 175.7 WEST
DEPTH - 48 KM
LOCATION - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
MAGNITUDE - 7.8

That is extremely misleading even thought it says this is the report for July. Scrolling too fast and missed that.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


That was not a dig it was a comment that you had said 6+ and you may be right. I still think you may be right although to get it below 7 from 7.4 might be difficult.

I haven't totted up the mb values but they are definitely under 7 I would have said.

Maybe this will be a 7 day job.

reply to post by angelchemuel


And they still don't have it the same as USGS. Ah well.

I found this quite interesting.



Foreshocks? (No six actually so sixshocks? )

Just checked the antipode map
www.antipodemap.com...
Like I should have had too really ...duh....but isn't this the second time this week we have had an 'antipode quake?
Just asking
Rainbows
Jane

Originally posted by PuterMan
Foreshsocks? (No six actually so sixshocks? )

Well on a quake that "big" I keep waiting for the AFTERshocks.

But so far, not seeing much of nothing in GEE, although the long distance to my closest monitored station is probably affecting the ability to see them. Darn it, wish they'd fix RAO.

Just had a quick looksee at BGS...would appear that Kermadec registerd around most of UK too!
Interesting but maybe not that Elsenham (London way) has been taken off their drop doen menu!

Need some food!
Rainbows
Jane

reply to post by angelchemuel


Am I missing something here. We had an antipodal quake? Where is it? I absolutely insist that you give it up immediately.

Interesting but maybe not that Elsenham (London way) has been taken off their drop down menu!

I find it interesting especially since the Olympics are up coming.

reply to post by PuterMan


OK...I know it's not EXACTLY antipodal...but it did have to travel quite a bit.....fair play now...give it some chance....it had a loooong way to go!

As to Olympics.....Ooooh PuterMan....you're starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist....knew this site would rub off on you eventually!
Choking on my salad now.....
Rainbows
Jane

Originally posted by TrueAmerican

Originally posted by PuterMan
Foreshsocks? (No six actually so sixshocks? )

Well on a quake that "big" I keep waiting for the AFTERshocks.

But so far, not seeing much of nothing in GEE, although the long distance to my closest monitored station is probably affecting the ability to see them. Darn it, wish they'd fix RAO.

Hmmm... Aftershocks... or this might have been an aftershock itself:

In July of this year, a M 7.6 event occurred approximately 45 km to the south-southwest of the October 21 earthquake, breaking a normal fault within the subducting Pacific plate also very close to the Kermadec Trench. This event was notable because it triggered a large number of thrust-faulting aftershocks to the west of the plate boundary, on or close to the interface between the Pacific and Australian plates. The October 21 earthquake may be related to that aftershock sequence.

(Bolding mine.)

Source: The above is a short extract from the Tectonic Summary on USGS

Soooo... If this was an aftershock, it could be good news, in a way. Preferable to it being a foreshock to a larger event, anyway.

Though sometimes, I expect that aftershocks of one event may also be foreshocks of another. Depends how we look at it, I guess.

And a note to Jane:

please feel free to copy the code for that rainbow smiley so you can use it yourself. Just use the "quote" tag on my post so you can find the code, then copy and paste it into a notepad document and you have it. (The smiley is loaded in my images on ATS.) The other way is to copy the image itself and load it into your own images store.

Okay, I'm going to rest again now...

Best regards,

Mike