I am a earthquake seismologist. AMA. 5th anniversary of Louisa Quake

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Could the Troll Empire (RIP) or Sauron's deep digging to produce Orcs be responsible for a quake large enough to shake the Shire?

What about the conditions of Mordor itself? How'd the Ring (Precious) start the earthquake there?

What were the preconditions that allowed for the situation when the Eye of Sauron implodes and creates a shock wave which causes an earthquake that shatters the ground and the ground starts to collapse? Was that Orc-building business to blame? Fault lines?

For reference:

http://lotrproject.com/map/#zoom=3&lat=-1332&lon=1486&layers=BTTTTTTTT

Fiction is fun. But it is fiction. As a scientist, I have to focus on things that are observable. So, the answer is no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your office talking non stop about the earthquake in Italy today??

I am not going to the office, as I have a medical test today. My g
uess, though is no. We will focus on what pays our bills.

Who do you work for ? An architect firm? USGS?

She said she can't tell. Given that, DOD, CIA, DIA. Some intelligence org. Listens to see if evil little fat men are digging deep holes and making things go "BOOM!"

Who said this person is a "she"?

[Anonymous]

OP, what is your take on this?

The Really Big One
An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is your take on this?

The Really Big One
An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Bumping. And wondering about ops thoughts on today's Midwest earthquake

[Anonymous]

Is the earthquake in Oklahoma fracking-related?

[Anonymous]

How vulnerable is Hawaii to earthquake/tsunami destruction?

[Anonymous]

Italy, New Zealand, Oklahoma.

Are these related?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is your take on this?

The Really Big One
An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Bumping. And wondering about ops thoughts on today's Midwest earthquake

Deep water injection (of the Fracking waste water) is a great way to induce earthquakes. We first observed this at Rocky Mountain Arsenal in the 60's
(see the attached paper: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/pdf/Healy-et-al-1968-Science-(New-York-NY).pdf. When they injected water, there was earthquakes. When they stopped, the earthquakes stopped. When they started up again, the earthquakes happened again. So they stopped.

Apparently, the desire to extract oil and gas from the earth in Oklahoma is greater than the concern about earthquakes. Either that or God hates fracking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the earthquake in Oklahoma fracking-related?

Yes. I just posted about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How vulnerable is Hawaii to earthquake/tsunami destruction?

Tsunamis are the #1 natural disaster in Hawaii. Fortunately, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center does a good job, so now, it is unlikely for a Tsunami from a distant earthquake to surprise Hawaii like happened in 1946 (and other times). Local earthquakes are somewhat more problematic. They can be observed, located, and classified quickly, but the big local earthquake (probably on the Big Island) can knock out power, which can present problems. However, Hawaii Civil defense is prepared for that. In addition, most of the *Big* (tsunami generating) earthquakes are on the eastern edge of the Big Island, and that will direct the Tsunami away from the other islands (there will be a hazard and warning, but the Tsunami will not be huge in Waikiki, for example).

The scenario that scares some scientists there is a large earthquake on the western side of the Big Island, which can create a large tsunami directed towards the other islands. There would be about 25-40 minutes, which will not be enough time to evacuate Waikiki, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Italy, New Zealand, Oklahoma.

Are these related?

No.

None of these earthquakes was particularly large (though there was a significant human tool in Italy at least). Earthquakes of this size happen about every other day.

[Anonymous]

OP - how good are our building codes in DC earthquake-wise? When the Louisa earthquake hit, I was on the 8th floor downtown and it seemed like the building was going to fall down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - how good are our building codes in DC earthquake-wise? When the Louisa earthquake hit, I was on the 8th floor downtown and it seemed like the building was going to fall down.

Honestly, I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - how good are our building codes in DC earthquake-wise? When the Louisa earthquake hit, I was on the 8th floor downtown and it seemed like the building was going to fall down.

Not OP, but it will depend on the age and type of structure. Wood frame houses are naturally flexible and much better able to absorb EQ energy than older, brick structures (note the low casualties from the Northridge EQ, which occurred early in the morning, when California was still at home in bed). Modern office buildings typically incorporate engineering design that also absorbs a lot of the energy.

[Anonymous]

Bump for the California Earthquake