There are San Andreas faults in many places. They happen where two rigid continental masses slide past each other at fairly rapid pace. The San Andreas fault separates (‘connect’ would be the wrong word) the American plate from the continental edge of the Pacific plate. It runs along the length of California, in-land up to…
Tourists have left, schools are closed. Santorini, source of 2% of the Greece GDP, has been evacuated. There has been continuous shaking for two weeks. The epicentre is 20 km from Santorini and the earthquakes are mainly below M5, but there is a risk that this could lead to a larger event. In any case,…
We as humans are pretty egocentric creatures, believing the universe revolves around us, thinking we are God’s or some other higher power’s greatest creation, and clinging to inaccurate ideas and beliefs in order to maintain pride. Fortunately, reality always crushes our delusion and reminds us of our insignificant role in this universe. Men of science…
Late on 8 September 2023, a major earthquake hit the region of the High Atlas mountains in Morocco. As of writing, the full extent of the damage is not yet known. The ancient city of Marrakesh, just north of the mountains, was hit badly. Settlements in the mountains themselves have not yet been reached. The…
The southern shores of Europe have seen their share of geological conflict. Africa is moving north, and Europe is in the way. There have been many skirmishes, which have left scars in southern Europe. Africa is an irresistible force and Europe an immovable object. The next phase of this battle will be at Cyprus where…
A guest post by our very own media master, Nick Small: A historic earthquake in Anatolia As you will all know, an M7.8 earthquake caused massive devastation across Southern Turkiye and Northern Syria on Monday 6/2/23. It ruptured about 100km of the East Anatolian fault at a critically shallow depth of 17.9 km. It was…
Alaska can be a shaky place. Earlier this week, at 10:15pm local time on Wednesday, there was an M8.2 earthquake in the region. It was the largest earthquake on Earth since the M8.3 in Chile in 2015. Let’s award the US the gold olympic medal for earthquaking (after all, the Chilean winner was from the…
Late in 2020, an M6.4 earthquake struck the town of Petrinja in Croatia. It caused extensive damage in the town and in nearby villages, and 7 people died. Even so, the impact was more limited than it might have been because houses here tend to be well build. It came as a surprise: powerful earthquakes…
There is a bit of California here. The fault equals the length of the San Andreas, its shape, its movement, and its earthquakes. Even the ends are alike: where the San Andreas has formed the Salton Sea, its counterpart has embraced the Marmara Sea. Both are places where the crust is being pulled part, and…
Post by Geolurking, based on a repost I have been tasked to revisit something I covered years ago. And update it with a bit of fresh info. The original publish date was 20 Feb 2012. The first thing I need to cover, mainly in order to bring every one up to speed… is the compass rose.…