Earthquake
swarm rattles seafloor along Carlsberg Ridge
9
January, 2013
January
9, 2013 – INDIAN OCEAN –
Because
the Carlsberg Ridge is one of the slowest-spreading, and so
supposedly less active oceanic ridges, many had thought it unlikely
to be the location of a major volcanic eruption.. At ridges such as
this, heat is thought to be released more slowly from the underlying
magma. However, we may have to rethink that previous assessment. The
Carlsberg Ridge region is currently being shaken by a major seismic
swarm, which could very well be volcanic in nature. The strongest
tremor in the current swarm is a magnitude 5.0. Nature journal said
in previous eruption, “A huge plume of hydrothermal chemicals,
drifted up to 1.4 kilometers above the vent site and 70 kilometers
along the underwater ridge was seen some years ago. It’s by far the
biggest vent plume ever seen, and confirms that such plumes form
following volcanic eruptions at the sea floor, even at slow-spreading
oceanic ridges.” 1
The
Carlsberg Ridge is the northern section of the Central Indian Ridge,
a divergent tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the
Indo-Australian Plate, traversing the western regions of the Indian
Ocean. The ridge of which the Carlsberg Ridge is a part extends
northward from a triple point junction near the island of Rodrigues
(the Rodrigues Triple Point) to a junction with the Owen Fracture
Zone. The ridge started its northwards propagation in the late
Maastrichtian and reached the incipient Arabian Sea in the Eocene.
Then it continued to accrete basalt but did not propagate for nearly
30 Ma. Then, in the early Miocene it started to propagate westwards
towards the Afar hot spot, opening the Gulf of Aden. The Carlsberg
Ridge is seismically active, with a major earthquake being recorded
by the U.S. Geological Survey at 7.6 on the moment magnitude scale on
July 15, 2003. –Wikipedia, The Extinction Protocol
(Major)
Earthquakes list January 9, 2013 – Moderate earthquake at the foot
of the Himalaya (West Nepal)
Earthquake swarm @ the Carslsberg Ridge
Carlsberg ridge is a divergent plate area or spreding ridge where magma brings new material to the plates. These plates are having irregular shapes and can generate earthquakes, the ridge earthquakes. The epicenters are mostly (but not always) found in the Middle of the Ocean and almost always at several hundred km from nearby islands (logical!).
Distance from the epicenter to the city of Antofagasta was approx. 110 km. The epicenter was far out in the desert. Both epicenter location and hypocenter depth are the reason why many people slept through it.
Another reason why the Chile people were not alerted by this earthquake is the data as reported by the Universidad de Chile, Santiago : M4.9 @ 115 km, which is far less than the international agencies are reporting. Local readings are always very valuable during earthquakes.
Moderate
earthquake at the foot of the Himalaya (West Nepal)
A moderate M5.0 earthquake happened close to the Indian border in the foothills of the Himalaya.
USGS reports an hypocenter of 34 km which is good news as this reduces the chance of serious serious damage a lot. The most we fear in this area (which had a similar earthquake at similar strength last year) are landslides.
This is a poor remote area in Nepal. People here are mostly farming families.
Update
Nepal seismological center mentions magnitude 5.5 in northern part of Bajura district. As earlier, NSC mentions different data (more magnitude) than international seismological agency. NSC is more reliable as it is local and has GPS station in Jumla (western Nepal, 67 km far from epicenter).
Strong
but deep earthquake on the border of Myanmar-India
A
preliminary 5.9M earthquake hit 59km from Phek, India at intermediate
depth of 75.5km. Those are preliminary reports so the magnitude and
depth can change, we expect a light shaking for a very wide area,
light shaking can make minor damage but no injuries.
Update: USGS tells that at least 3 million people should have felt a light shaking (IV on the mercalli scale) and almost 10 million a weak shaking (II-III).
Update : The initial depth of 75 km has been increased after recalculation to 90 km by USGS. Other agencies are mentioning similar depths. The same area had a stronger similar earthquake last year.
|
SRC
|
Location
|
UTC Date/time
|
M
|
D
|
INFORMATION
|
|
ER
|
I Felt A (not Listed) Strong Earthquake
|
Jan 09 23:59 PM
|
4.6
|
0.1
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 21:20 PM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 21:20 PM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 21:20 PM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Off W Coast Of Northern Sumatra
|
Jan 09 21:05 PM
|
5.0
|
30.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Off West Coast Of Northern Sumatra
|
Jan 09 21:05 PM
|
5.0
|
29.0
|
||
USGS
|
Off The West Coast Of Northern Sumatra
|
Jan 09 21:05 PM
|
5.0
|
14.9
|
||
EMSC
|
Tarapaca, Chile
|
Jan 09 18:38 PM
|
5.1
|
100.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Peru-bolivia Border Region
|
Jan 09 18:38 PM
|
5.1
|
93.0
|
||
USGS
|
Tarapaca, Chile
|
Jan 09 18:38 PM
|
5.0
|
78.9
|
||
GEOFON
|
Aegean Sea
|
Jan 09 15:41 PM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Aegean Sea
|
Jan 09 15:40 PM
|
4.7
|
2.0
|
||
|
||||||
USGS
|
Antofagasta, Chile
|
Jan 09 11:21 AM
|
5.1
|
115.3
|
||
EMSC
|
Antofagasta, Chile
|
Jan 09 11:21 AM
|
4.9
|
110.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Northern Chile
|
Jan 09 11:21 AM
|
5.0
|
90.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:51 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:51 AM
|
4.9
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:51 AM
|
4.9
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:35 AM
|
4.6
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:35 AM
|
4.6
|
10.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:27 AM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:27 AM
|
4.9
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:27 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:08 AM
|
4.6
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:08 AM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 10:08 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 09:40 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 09:40 AM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 09:40 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia
|
Jan 09 09:28 AM
|
4.6
|
159.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Talaud Islands, Indonesia
|
Jan 09 09:28 AM
|
4.6
|
159.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 09:02 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 09:02 AM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 09:02 AM
|
4.7
|
10.2
|
||
USGS
|
Nepal
|
Jan 09 07:44 AM
|
5.0
|
34.2
|
||
EMSC
|
Nepal
|
Jan 09 07:44 AM
|
5.1
|
30.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Nepal
|
Jan 09 07:44 AM
|
5.1
|
13.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 06:50 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 06:50 AM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 06:50 AM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 06:22 AM
|
4.8
|
5.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 06:21 AM
|
4.8
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 06:21 AM
|
4.9
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 05:27 AM
|
5.0
|
10.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 05:27 AM
|
5.0
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 05:27 AM
|
5.0
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Ascension Island Region
|
Jan 09 04:55 AM
|
4.6
|
33.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Ascension Island Region
|
Jan 09 04:55 AM
|
4.6
|
10.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 04:46 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 04:46 AM
|
4.9
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Carlsberg Ridge
|
Jan 09 04:46 AM
|
4.9
|
10.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Southeastern Alaska
|
Jan 09 04:12 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Southeastern Alaska
|
Jan 09 04:12 AM
|
4.6
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Southeastern Alaska
|
Jan 09 04:12 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Southeastern Alaska
|
Jan 09 04:12 AM
|
4.7
|
10.0
|
||
USGS
|
Myanmar-india Border Region
|
Jan 09 01:41 AM
|
5.8
|
90.5
|
||
|
||||||
EMSC
|
Myanmar-india Border Region
|
Jan 09 01:41 AM
|
6.0
|
99.0
|
||
GEOFON
|
Myanmar-india Border Region
|
Jan 09 01:41 AM
|
5.7
|
87.0
|
||
EMSC
|
Kuril Islands
|
Jan 09 00:17 AM
|
4.6
|
60.0
|
||
USGS
|
Kuril Islands
|
Jan 09 00:17 AM
|
4.6
|
54.3
|
||
GEOFON
|
Kuril Islands
|
Jan 09 00:17 AM
|
5.0
|
10.0
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.