HyperSmash.com
Significant EarthquakesPast 30 Days
- M 6.6, 36km SSW of Lata, Solomon IslandsThursday, February 07, 2013 18:59:16 UTC
- M 6.3, 144km W of Lata, Solomon IslandsWednesday, February 06, 2013 06:35:19 UTC
- M 7.0, 27km NNW of Lata, Solomon IslandsWednesday, February 06, 2013 01:54:15 UTC
- M 6.4, 114km WSW of Lata, Solomon IslandsWednesday, February 06, 2013 01:23:19 UTC
- M 8.0, 76km W of Lata, Solomon IslandsWednesday, February 06, 2013 01:12:27 UTC
- M 6.3, 70km WSW of Lata, Solomon IslandsWednesday, February 06, 2013 00:07:22 UTC
- M 6.9, 15km SW of Obihiro, JapanSaturday, February 02, 2013 14:17:34 UTC
- M 6.4, 67km SW of Lata, Solomon IslandsFriday, February 01, 2013 22:18:35 UTC
- M 6.3, 47km WSW of Lata, Solomon IslandsFriday, February 01, 2013 22:16:36 UTC
- M 6.8, 56km NNE of Vallenar, ChileWednesday, January 30, 2013 20:15:43 UTC
- M 6.1, 61km SE of Kegen, KazakhstanMonday, January 28, 2013 16:38:53 UTC
Here these are in Earthquake 3D...
Here is the "Tectonic Summary " for the 8.0 event. This will express what is going on with the plates and with the breaking up of certain plates with the collision of others. The land is being reshaped and just because we live in the United States or somewhere that is not having the major earthquake action right now, prepare for it because it IS coming. In the following, the highlights are mine and I added definitions and highlights as well.
Tectonic Summary
Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate
The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most seismically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transgressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.
Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar events are likely to occur again.
North of New Zealand, the Australia-Pacific boundary stretches east of Tonga and Fiji to 250 km south of Samoa. For 2,200 km the trench is approximately linear, and includes two segments where old (>120 Myr) Pacific oceanic lithosphere rapidly subducts westward (Kermadec and Tonga). At the northern end of the Tonga trench, the boundary curves sharply westward and changes along a 700 km-long segment from trench-normal subduction, to oblique subduction, to a left lateral transform-like structure.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 60 mm/yr at the southern Kermadec trench to 90 mm/yr at the northern Tonga trench; however, significant back arc extension (or equivalently, slab rollback) causes the consumption rate of subducting Pacific lithosphere to be much faster. The spreading rate in the Havre trough, west of the Kermadec trench, increases northward from 8 to 20 mm/yr. The southern tip of this spreading center is propagating into the North Island of New Zealand, rifting it apart. In the southern Lau Basin, west of the Tonga trench, the spreading rate increases northward from 60 to 90 mm/yr, and in the northern Lau Basin, multiple spreading centers result in an extension rate as high as 160 mm/yr. The overall subduction velocity of the Pacific plate is the vector sum of Australia-Pacific velocity and back arc spreading velocity: thus it increases northward along the Kermadec trench from 70 to 100 mm/yr, and along the Tonga trench from 150 to 240 mm/yr.
underthrust [ˈʌndəˌθrʌst]
n
(Earth Sciences / Geological Science) Geology a reverse fault in which the rocks on the lower surface of a fault plane have moved under the relatively static rocks on the upper surface Compare overthrust
The Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone generates many large earthquakes on the interface between the descending Pacific and overriding Australia plates, within the two plates themselves and, less frequently, near the outer rise of the Pacific plate east of the trench. Since 1900, 40 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded, mostly north of 30°S. However, it is unclear whether any of the few historic M8+ events that have occurred close to the plate boundary were under thrusting events on the plate interface, or were intraplate earthquakes. On September 29, 2009, one of the largest normal fault (outer rise) earthquakes ever recorded (M8.1) occurred south of Samoa, 40 km east of the Tonga trench, generating a tsunami that killed at least 180 people.
Earthquakes that occur far from plate boundaries are known as intraplate earthquakes.
Across the North Fiji Basin and to the west of the Vanuatu Islands, the Australia plate again subducts eastwards beneath the Pacific, at the North New Hebrides trench. At the southern end of this trench, east of the Loyalty Islands, the plate boundary curves east into an oceanic transform-like structure analogous to the one north of Tonga.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 80 to 90 mm/yr along the North New Hebrides trench, but the Australia plate consumption rate is increased by extension in the back arc and in the North Fiji Basin. Back arc spreading occurs at a rate of 50 mm/yr along most of the subduction zone, except near ~15°S, where the D'Entrecasteaux ridge intersects the trench and causes localized compression of 50 mm/yr in the back arc. Therefore, the Australia plate subduction velocity ranges from 120 mm/yr at the southern end of the North New Hebrides trench, to 40 mm/yr at the D'Entrecasteaux ridge-trench intersection, to 170 mm/yr at the northern end of the trench.
Large earthquakes are common along the North New Hebrides trench and have mechanisms associated with subduction tectonics, though occasional strike slip earthquakes occur near the subduction of the D'Entrecasteaux ridge. Within the subduction zone 34 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since 1900. On October 7, 2009, a large interplate thrust fault earthquake (M7.6) in the northern North New Hebrides subduction zone was followed 15 minutes later by an even larger interplate event (M7.8) 60 km to the north. It is likely that the first event triggered the second of the so-called earthquake "doublet".
An intraplate earthquake is an earthquake that occurs in the interior of a tectonic plate, whereas an interplate earthquake is one that occurs at a plate boundary. ... By definition, intraplate earthquakes do not occur near plate boundaries, but along faults in the normally stable interior of plates. These earthquakes often occur at the location of ancient failed rifts, because such old structures may present a weakness in the crust where it can easily slip to accommodate regional tectonic strain.
Compared to earthquakes near plate boundaries, intraplate earthquakes are not well understood, and the hazards associated with them may be difficult to quantify.
The February 6th, 2013 M 8.0 earthquake in the Santa Cruz Islands occurred as a result of shallow thrust faulting on or near the plate boundary interface between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of this earthquake, the Australia plate converges with and subducts beneath the Pacific plate, moving towards the east-northeast at a rate of approximately 94 mm/yr.
The February 6th earthquake is located approximately 700-750 km ESE of the Mw 8.1 Solomon Islands earthquake of April 1, 2007, and the Mw 7.1 Solomon Island earthquake of January 3, 2010. It is over 900 km to NNW of the February 2, 2012 Mw 7.1 Vanuatu earthquake, and approximately 200-300 km north of a series of earthquakes in October, 2009 along the Vanuatu Trench that included two earthquakes larger than magnitude 7 (Mw 7.8, Mw 7.4).
This earthquake is located adjacent to a complex section of the Australia-Pacific plate boundary, where the Solomon Trench to the west is linked to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) Trench to the south by a short segment of dominantly strike-slip plate motion. The February 6thearthquake is located at the northern end of the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) segment. To the north and west of this event, the plate boundary changes in character, is oriented more west-to-east, and connects the segment ruptured by this event with the continuation of the subduction zone along the Solomon Islands.
Over the month leading up to the February 6th earthquake, there have been dozens of earthquakes in the epicentral region – over 40 M4.5 or larger in the preceding 7 days alone, 7 of which were larger than M6. Faulting mechanisms for these earthquakes suggest a mixture of strike-slip, normal and thrust faulting events. Within an hour of the February 6th M8.0 mainshock, there were also two large aftershocks with magnitudes greater than M6. See a map of current aftershocks here.
This figure highlights the activity in the region of the February 6th, 2013 M8.0 earthquake over the week leading up to the event. Several earthquakes of M6 or larger, and dozens of smaller shocks, occurred in the same region over that time period. The upper panel plots the magnitude of these events versus time. Their locations and USGS W-phase moment tensors are plotted in the map below, colored by depth. Historic seismicity (all events prior to January 30th, 2013) from the EHB and USGS PDE catalogs are plotted with white circles, sized by magnitude. Slab contours for the Vanuatu slab, from the USGS Slab1.0 database, are shown with dashed lines, at 20 km intervals. (Click on image for larger version.)
This figure illustrates the dramatic transition in tectonics around the bend in the plate boundary adjacent to the February 6th, 2013 M8.0 earthquake. South of this earthquake (upper panels and cross-section A-B), the Australia plate subducts beneath the Pacific at the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) Trench. The location of the February 6th earthquake (center panels, cross-section C-D. 02-06-13 earthquake marked as a star) is very close to what could be considered the edge of the Vanuatu slab. Further west (lower panels, cross-section E-F), the plate boundary is oriented approximately W-E, plate motion is nearly parallel to the boundary, and fault motion is dominantly strike-slip.
In each map, historic seismicity from the EHB and USGS PDE catalogs are plotted with white circles, sized by magnitude. Gray circles are highlighted in cross-sections to the left, where moment tensors from the global CMT catalog are also plotted for larger events.
You will need to go to the source to get a good look at the maps.
source: USGS
IN THE FOLLOWING, THE HIGHLIGHTING IS DONE BY ME AND THE CAPITAL LETTER SECTIONS WITH HIGHLIGHTING ARE DONE BY ME.
"The northeasterly side is a complex but generally convergent boundary with the Pacific Plate. The Pacific Plate is subducting under the Australian Plate, which forms the Tonga and Kermadec Trenches, and the parallel Tonga and Kermadec island arcs. It has also uplifted the eastern parts of New Zealand's North Island.
The continent of Zealandia, which separated from Australia 85 million years ago and stretches from New Caledonia in the north to New Zealand’s subantarctic islands in the south, is now being torn apart along the transform boundary marked by the Alpine Fault.
South of New Zealand the boundary becomes a transitional transform-convergent boundary, the Macquarie Fault Zone, where the Australian Plate is beginning to subduct under the Pacific Plate along the Puysegur Trench. Extending southwest of this trench is the Macquarie Ridge.
The southerly side is a divergent boundary with the Antarctic Plate called the Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR). The westerly side is a transform boundary with the Arabian Plate called the Owen Fracture Zone, and a divergent boundary with the African Plate called the Central Indian Ridge (CIR). The northerly side of the Indo-Australian Plate is a convergent boundary with the Eurasian Plate forming the Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountains.
THE INDO-AUSTRALIAN PLATE IS BREAKING APART AND A NEW PLATE IS BEING FORMED IN THE PROCESS. DURING THIS PROCESS, YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THERE ARE A LOT MORE EARTHQUAKES AS WELL AS A LOT OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY. THE CORE OF THE EARTH IS DESTABILIZED.
The northwest side of the Indo-Australian plate forms a subducting boundary with the Eurasian plate on the borders of the Indian Ocean from Bangladesh, to Myanmar to the south-west of Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java.
The subducting boundary through Indonesia is not parallel to the biogeographical Wallace line that separates the indigenous fauna of Asia from that of Australasia. The Eastern islands of Indonesia lie mainly on the Eurasian Plate, but have Australasian-related fauna and flora."
- Around Neogene (23.03 ±0.05 Ma until today or ending 2.588 Ma), Laurentia, in the form of North America, crashed into South America, forming the minor supercontinent America.
- Around 250 Ma from now, all continents may crash together, forming the major supercontinent Pangaea Ultima. Laurentia would be part of Pangaea Ultima.
- Around 450-600 Ma from now, Pangea Ultima will eventually rift apart. Laurentia may break off.
BUOYS THAT HAVE BEEN PLACED TO MEASURE THESE EVENTS HAVE SUNK UP TO THREE METERS. ONE INCH OF MOVEMENT CAN CAUSE A HUGE DIFFERENCE SOMEWHERE ELSE. FROM WHAT I HEAR NOW, THE BUOYS HAVE RISEN IN SOME AREAS.
IN THE RING OF FIRE, THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 50+ EARTHQUAKES PER DAY. IT'S LIKE A TETER-TOTTER BACK AND FORTH AROUND THE RING OF FIRE. ONE THING HAPPENS AND IT EFFECTS SOMETHING ELSE AND THAT THINGS EFFECTS SOMETHING ELSE. IT'S LIKE A RIPPLE.
MAGMA IS MELTING THE GLACIERS AND CAUSING THE WATER TO BECOME LESS SALINE AND THE MAGMA IS ALSO CAUSING THERE TO BE LESS OXYGEN IN THE WATER AND THEREFORE THERE ARE THE HUGE NUMBER OF FISH DYING, ALONG WITH OTHER WATER LIFE.
THE WEATHER CHANGES ARE HAPPENING, ALSO DUE TO THE CHANGES IN THE DESTABILIZATION OF THE EARTH'S CORE.
THAT'S ALL OF MY BABBLING FOR TODAY, EXCEPT, HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF WHAT IS PREDICTED TO BE THE OUTCOME OF THE MAP OF THE GLOBE ONCE THE MOVEMENT IS COMPLETE.
FIRST...
SOURCE: http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/tectonic.htm
*******************************************************************
Gordon-Michael Scallion Coast To Coast Interview April 2008
*******************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment