Quake Watch 2010

MAP 5.0 2010/01/05 14:36:27 -2.458 121.310 36.0 SULAWESI, INDONESIA
MAP 5.3 2010/01/05 13:56:56 -8.917 157.718 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.6 2010/01/05 13:11:43 -9.064 157.912 37.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.4 2010/01/05 13:10:02 -8.930 157.587 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.3 2010/01/05 12:36:18 -8.858 157.542 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.4 2010/01/05 12:25:32 -8.979 158.091 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 6.9 2010/01/05 12:15:36 -8.886 157.522 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 6.7 2010/01/05 04:55:39 -58.101 -14.867 10.0 EAST OF THE SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 2010/01/05 04:15:53 -23.607 -63.691 545.7 SALTA, ARGENTINA
MAP 5.0 2010/01/05 01:34:26 -16.429 -73.999 26.2 NEAR THE COAST OF SOUTHERN PERU

Quakes of 5.0 or greater that have happened today...

reply to post by TheCoffinman


The Pacific Rim is really busy right now. Similar to what we were seeing last year at this time, there seemed to almost be a pattern. Solomon Islands, South America, Alaska, and Indonesia all firing off one right after the other with a little spritzing on the California coast.

Has the earthquake at 13.11pm UTC (05.01.10) been upgraded?

USGS has it at a 6.0. never noticed that earlier.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Quakes for Jan. 6 (editing as I go along.) Activity in Solomon islands is to be expected after major quake.

5.0 2010/01/06 05:22:04 -8.927 157.590 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 2010/01/06 04:29:57 -7.881 157.416 32.5 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.0 2010/01/06 00:28:36 14.250 -91.879 76.8 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA


[edit on 6-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

[edit on 6-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

Twitter update from the Cal Poly Pomona Geophysics account, re Jan. 5th activity:

Quick rerun of rCMT confirms: today's Sandwich Isl. earthquake Mw6.7 shallow strike-slip, Solomon Isl. eq Mw6.8 shallow reverse faulting

twitter.com...

Multiple tweets about a felt earthquake in Davao City Philippines but no confirmation yet.

I really think it is a very fishy deal down grading all quakes by a
full point. Add that point back, on these lists and they look a lot
different.
Ominous.

Originally posted by quakewatcher
reply to post by TheCoffinman

 

The Pacific Rim is really busy right now. Similar to what we were seeing last year at this time, there seemed to almost be a pattern. Solomon Islands, South America, Alaska, and Indonesia all firing off one right after the other with a little spritzing on the California coast.

I agree, I'm in New Zealand and we've just had a 6.0 @ 12km depth to the south of the South Island - seems the quakes are happening north and south of us but nothing here on the mainland yet. I live at the foot of the Southern Alps which is the main faultline so right now friends and I are on quake alert.

For info:

Reference Number 3219647/G
Universal Time January 6 2010 at 9:48
NZ Daylight Time Wednesday, January 6 2010 at 10:48 pm
Latitude, Longitude 49.37°S, 164.12°E
Focal Depth 12 km
Richter magnitude 6.0
Region SW of New Zealand
Location

* 200 km north-west of Auckland Islands
* 240 km south-west of Snares Islands
* 460 km south-west of Invercargill
* 620 km south-west of Dunedin

USGS is calling that NZ quake a 5.0

Here's their detail:


Magnitude
5.0
Date-Time
Wednesday, January 06, 2010 at 09:48:44 UTC
Wednesday, January 06, 2010 at 08:48:44 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
49.946°S, 164.307°E
Depth
10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region
AUCKLAND ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND REGION
Distances
140 km (85 miles) WNW of Auckland Island, New Zealand
495 km (310 miles) SW of Invercargill, New Zealand
1260 km (780 miles) SW of WELLINGTON, New Zealand
2040 km (1270 miles) SSE of CANBERRA, A.C.T., Australia
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 14.3 km (8.9 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters
NST= 19, Nph= 19, Dmin=527.1 km, Rmss=1.24 sec, Gp=140°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=7

Quakes for Jan. 6 (editing as I go along - can't edit the old post, sorry.) Activity in Solomon islands is to be expected after major quake.

5.3 2010/01/06 17:27:55 -4.530 151.700 189.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.4 2010/01/06 16:38:36 -41.540 -16.506 10.0 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
4.8 2010/01/06 14:17:50 27.616 55.171 35.0 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.0 2010/01/06 09:48:45 -49.946 164.307 10.0 AUCKLAND ISLANDS, N Z REGION
4.6 2010/01/06 09:17:38 17.409 -100.551 37.0 GUERRERO, MEXICO
5.0 2010/01/06 05:22:04 -8.927 157.590 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 2010/01/06 04:29:57 -7.881 157.416 32.5 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.0 2010/01/06 00:28:36 14.250 -91.879 76.8 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA

[edit on 6-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

[edit on 6-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

[edit on 6-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

[edit on 6-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

Note: 5.3 Papau New Guinea earthquake downgraded from initial 5.7. There are some very large volcanoes (calderas even) on New Britain, including one which had quite a large explosive eruption in 94/95. Can't get through to the volcano observatory site right now, maybe earthquake related power disruption or it just can't handle much web traffic.

Strike that. I don't think they are even online, link I was trying to get to was just a map.
[edit on 6-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

[edit on 6-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

The larger earthquakes have settled down, I think the worst of the aftershocks from the big one in the Solomons may be over.

However, there are some interesting clusters today to take note of.

2 earthquakes bracketing San Jose CA within a few minutes of eachother. the first only 2.8 km deep. Reports they (or one of them anyway) definitely felt despite small magnitude. Very close to major population centers, and fitting into a larger pattern over the last few days of 2.x-3.x quakes straight down the San Andreas and related faults.

2.9 2010/01/06 23:16:24 36.721N 121.362W 2.8 9 km ( 5 mi) SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
2.8 2010/01/06 23:09:00 37.409N 121.758W 8.2 8 km ( 5 mi) NE of Alum Rock, CA

edited to add this one a few hours before in the Gulf of CA (off Mexico)
4.1 2010/01/07 05:49:20 30.201 -113.740 10.0 GULF OF CALIFORNIA

Another cluster in the Puerto Rico region, of 3.x quakes.

3.4 2010/01/07 02:31:53 19.089 -66.581 16.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
2.9 2010/01/07 02:27:10 19.093 -66.569 20.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
2.9 2010/01/07 02:20:37 19.089 -66.547 45.7 PUERTO RICO REGION
3.2 2010/01/07 02:16:37 18.865 -66.630 48.4 PUERTO RICO REGION
3.1 2010/01/07 02:07:00 19.058 -66.575 19.3 PUERTO RICO REGION
2.8 2010/01/07 02:03:50 19.073 -66.579 25.0 PUERTO RICO REGION





[edit on 7-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

Last night there was another quake in NZ reported as a 6.0 there, rated a 5.0 by USGS. (Pretty big difference)

Details:

Thursday, January 07, 2010 at 08:29:18 UTC
Thursday, January 07, 2010 at 07:29:18 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
52.280°S, 159.304°E
Depth
10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region
MACQUARIE ISLAND REGION
Distances
260 km (165 miles) N of Macquarie Island, Australia
505 km (310 miles) WSW of Auckland Island, New Zealand
1695 km (1050 miles) SW of WELLINGTON, New Zealand
2055 km (1270 miles) SSE of CANBERRA, A.C.T., Australia
Location Uncertainty
Error estimate not available
Parameters
NST= 10, Nph= 10, Dmin=951 km, Rmss=0 sec, Gp=263°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=7
Source
USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID
us2010real

Quakes greater than 4.5 for Jan 7, 2010:


4.8 2010/01/07 14:35:23 -18.972 -69.343 10.0 TARAPACA, CHILE
5.0 2010/01/07 08:29:19 -52.280 159.304 10.0 MACQUARIE ISLAND REGION
4.9 2010/01/07 08:01:20 -8.640 157.547 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
4.8 2010/01/07 07:11:38 27.760 128.846 50.7 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN


And more of those 2+ quivers in CA.

2.7 2010/01/07 17:03:49 39.736 -123.493 0.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
2.6 2010/01/07 16:50:14 34.813 -118.394 0.7 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

At .9 and .7 KM deep these are very shallow. Seeing lots of felt reports on twitter.

reply to post by quakewatcher


Thanks for all the updates quakewatcher! Do you know why they would call it a 6.0 and USGS only a 5.0, from what i've heard that can be a pretty big difference!

What are your thoughts on the amout of 5.0's and upwards we've had lately? any opinions/predictions on where the next big one might hit? (i ask because you seem pretty knowledgable on eq's)

and also i think Macquarie Islands is part of Aust (apparently its a 'tasmanian state reserve') not NZ

I am just an amateur obsessor. But I've been at it for many years.

I'm not sure why the discrepancy on the NZ area quakes, maybe some differences in how things are measured locally. Haven't really heard any major damage reports so I'm willing to believe the 5.x range.

I am interested in what the CA map looks like ever since that 5.8 in Baja a few weeks ago, which is what got me on this most recent quake tracking kick. I'm not sure it's necessarily leading to anything bigger or just a slow release of pressure but it's interesting to watch. Typically the quakes are 2+ and coming in pairs or triplets within a few minutes of each other, at different points along the San Andreas fault system. Don't want to ponder the economic consequences of anything bigger under San Jose, so let's hope they stay petite.

Elsewhere in the world there's a fair amount of volcanic activity going on right now so it's not hard to predict there could be large quakes in those regions. If I had to bet I'd say the Solomon Islands region generally, Indonesia and the Philippines. All very predictable based on what's been going on lately. Large aftershocks to be expected. Interesting stuff happening in Alaska as well, if not terribly unusual for the region.

Significant earthquake in Bay Area CA, no magnitude yet.

Twitter is full of reports right now.

edited to add report:

4.2 - local magnitude (ML)
Time Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 10:09:35 AM (PST)
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 18:09:35 (UTC)
Distance from Milpitas, CA - 10 km (6 miles) ENE (62 degrees)
Alum Rock, CA - 12 km (8 miles) NNE (12 degrees)
Sunol, CA - 16 km (10 miles) SSE (150 degrees)
San Jose City Hall, CA - 17 km (11 miles) NNE (29 degrees)
Coordinates 37 deg. 28.6 min. N (37.477N), 121 deg. 47.8 min. W (121.797W)
Depth 9 km (5.6 miles)
Location Quality Excellent
Location Quality Parameters Nst= 89, Nph= 89, Dmin=3 km, Rmss=0.08 sec, Erho=0.1 km, Erzz=0.4 km, Gp=36 degrees
Event ID# nc71336726

This is right where the others have been occurring in the middle of Silicon Valley. OK, that's enough now, mother nature!

[edit on 7-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

Just downgraded slightly to 4.1

[edit on 7-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

News said it was a 4.2. I think bigger. It was centered here in the Fremont hills, It was pretty long, felt like a 5.5.

[edit on 7-1-2010 by FoundClarity]

earthquake.usgs.gov...

heres the link for that 4.2 sorry i missed it

4.5+ quakes for the remainder of Jan. 7:


5.1 2010/01/07 15:48:22 -21.616 -174.610 35.0 TONGA

and so far during Jan. 8 (UTC)

5.2 2010/01/08 04:30:37 -31.390 -179.245 416.5 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.2 2010/01/08 04:29:11 -8.781 157.600 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
4.8 2010/01/08 03:31:11 15.265 -45.773 10.0 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

In CA there have been many aftershocks/close by quakes to the one earlier today, but nothing big.

I count 26 so far, with the largest being three of 2.2 magnitude.

Looks like the USGS has revised the magnitude of one of yesterday's CA quakes up a little to a 3.0, and the one right after it to a 2.9:

2.9 2010/01/06 23:16:24 36.721N 121.363W 3.3 9 km ( 5 mi) SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
3.0 2010/01/06 23:09:00 37.410N 121.755W 9.1 8 km ( 5 mi) NE of Alum Rock, CA





[edit on 7-1-2010 by quakewatcher]

For those interested in more detail about today's quake in Northern CA, here's an informative piece from the SJ Mercury News:

www.mercurynews.com...