The devastating M8.5 earthquake that shook Sumatra, Indonesia, in 1861 was long believed to be a sudden rupture on a previously quiescent fault. However, new research showed that tectonic plates below the island had been slowly crashing against each other for 32...
June 04, 2021
Slow-slip earthquakes have been detected at many earthquake hotspots in the world, including areas around the Pacific Ring of Fire, but it remains unclear as to how they are linked to the damaging quakes that take place there. In a new study, researchers at The...
May 26, 2021
A new study published in Earth, Planets and Space sheds new light on the electromagnetic anomalies occurring before large earthquakes. The research supports the hypothesis that fault rupture progresses just before an earthquake, and the invading gas is charged and...
May 24, 2021
Earthquakes and tsunamis from subduction zones might be more hazardous than current estimates, a new study suggests. Researchers from the University of New Mexico and the Nanyang Technological University developed a new method to assess the dangers represented by...
May 05, 2021
A new study reveals the workings of an "earthquake gate" -- a naturally occurring blocker that decides which quakes are allowed to grow into M8.0 or greater. "An earthquake gate is like someone directing traffic at a one-lane construction zone,"...
April 21, 2021
Scientists at the Stanford School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences described a new method for using artificial intelligence to detect millions of long-hidden small earthquakes or microquakes, providing possible hints about how earthquakes evolve. Big...
November 04, 2020
A new study by François Xavier Passelegue, a scientist at ENAC's Laboratory of Experimental Rock Mechanics (LEMR), has provided new insights into the origins of earthquakes, showing that the speed and intensity with which seismic waves cultivate after a...
October 26, 2020
Scientists at the University of South California (USC) have detected that the earthquakes registered alongside California’s San Andreas Fault occur much deeper than previously understood. The previous knowledge of the fault indicated that earthquakes are...
September 09, 2020
An international team of researchers published a new study providing new clues about how and where subduction begins on Earth, the process behind the deadliest volcanic eruptions. The Earth's largest earthquakes and most explosive volcanoes occur at subduction...
August 02, 2020
In a new study, scientists have warned that the Ridgecrest earthquakes in Southern California in 2019 could increase the chance of a San Andreas Fault earthquake. The probability is higher because the 2019 temblors stressed the Garlock Fault, which links the...
July 17, 2020
A new study published in the Nature Scientific Reports on July 13 suggests that powerful eruptions on the Sun can trigger large earthquakes on Earth. In the paper, the authors analyzed 20 years of proton density and velocity data, as recorded by the SOHO satellite,...
July 16, 2020
In a new study, an international team of scientists provided the first conclusive evidence directly correlating deep Earth's water cycles, magmatic productivity, and earthquake activity. Water and other volatiles that are cycled through the deep Earth have...
June 28, 2020
A new study shows that natural hazards on Earth, specifically earthquakes and tsunamis, can create much more disturbances in the ionosphere than previously assumed. The researchers studied the catastrophic 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and found...
May 06, 2020
A new study by an international team of geoscientists shows that a strange reversal of ground motion occurred prior to two of the biggest earthquakes in history-- the M8.8 great Maule quake in 2010 and the M9 Tohoku-Oki quake in 2011, which triggered a catastrophic...
April 30, 2020
A new study concludes that the season in which earthquake happens can affect the impact of ground failure and potential destruction. The paper, published in Seismological Research Letters journal, said the 1887 Magnitude 7.3 Verny earthquake and the nearby 1911...
November 11, 2019
A team of seismologists has developed a new measurement of seismic energy release that can be applied to large earthquakes. Called the Radiated Energy Enhancement Factor (REEF), it provides a measure of earthquake rupture complexity that better captures variations...
April 04, 2018
New research finds large earthquakes can trigger underwater landslides thousands of miles away, weeks or months after the quake occurs. Researchers analyzing data from ocean bottom seismometers off the Washington-Oregon coast tied a series of underwater landslides...
June 28, 2017
A new NASA study is challenging a long-held theory that tsunamis form and acquire their energy mostly from vertical movement of the seafloor. The study shows that horizontal seafloor movement also creates energy for tsunamis and further validates a GPS-based...
April 27, 2017
In a new study published in Nature Geoscience yesterday, Japanese researchers have found that many of the largest earthquakes occurred near the time of maximum tidal strain — or during new and full moons when the Sun, Moon, and Earth align. The possibility...
September 13, 2016