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In seismology, an earthquake swarm is a sequence of seismic events occurring in a local area within a relatively short period. The time span used to define a swarm varies, but may be days, months, or years. Such an energy release is different from the situation when a major earthquake (main shock) is followed by a series of aftershocks: in earthquake swarms, no single earthquake in the sequence is obviously the main shock. In particular, a cluster of aftershocks occurring after a mainshock is not a swarm. [2]
The Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge), which form the border between the Czech Republic and Germany, western Bohemia and the Vogtland region, have been known since the 16th century as being prone to frequent earthquake swarms, which typically last a few weeks to a few months. In 1899, Austrian geologist Josef Knett, while studying a swarm of about a hundred events felt in western Bohemia/Vogtland between January and February 1824, coined the noun Schwarmbeben, i.e. "swarm [earth]quake". [3] The term "swarm" comes from the fact that hypocentres give the impression of agglutinating like a bee swarm when plotted onto a map, a cross-section or a 3D model.[ citation needed ]
One of the best-documented swarms occurred near Matsushiro, a suburb of Nagano, to the north-west of Tokyo. The Matsushiro swarm lasted from 1965 to 1967 and generated about 1 million earthquakes. This swarm had the peculiarity of being sited just under a seismological observatory installed in 1947 in a decommissioned military tunnel. It began in August 1965 with three earthquakes too weak to be felt, but three months later, a hundred earthquakes could be felt daily. On 17 April 1966, the observatory counted 6,780 earthquakes, with 585 of them having a magnitude great enough to be felt, which means that an earthquake could be felt, on average, every two and a half minutes. [4] The phenomenon was clearly identified as linked to a magma uplift, perhaps initiated by the 1964 Niigata earthquake, which occurred the previous year. [5]
Earthquake swarms are common in volcanic regions such as Japan, Central Italy, the Afar depression or Iceland, where they occur before and during eruptions, but they are also observed in zones of Quaternary volcanism or of hydrothermal circulation, such as Vogtland/western Bohemia and the Vosges massif, and less frequently far from tectonic plate boundaries in locations such as Nevada, Oklahoma or Scotland. In all cases, high-pressure fluid migration in the Earth's crust seems to be the trigger mechanism and the driving process that govern the evolution of the swarm in space and time. [6] [7] The Hochstaufen earthquake swarm in Bavaria, with 2-km-deep foci, is one of the rare examples where an indisputable relationship between seismic activity and precipitation could be established. [8]
Earthquake swarms raise public-safety issues: first, because the end of seismic activity cannot be predicted; second, because it is uncertain whether another earthquake with a magnitude larger than those of previous shocks in the sequence will occur (the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake in Italy illustrates this, with an MW 6.3 shock following a swarm activity with magnitudes between 1 and 3). Even though swarms usually generate moderate shocks, the persistence of felt earthquakes can be disruptive and cause distress to the population.
The following examples were chosen for peculiarities of certain swarms (for instance: large number of events, complex interaction with larger shocks, long period of time, ultra-shallow focal depth), or because of their geographical region, some swarms occurring in otherwise aseismic regions. It is not intended to be a list of all the swarms happening worldwide.
An earthquake – also called a quake, tremor, or temblor – is the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they cannot be felt, to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air, damage critical infrastructure, and wreak destruction across entire cities. The seismic activity of an area is the frequency, type, and size of earthquakes experienced over a particular time. The seismicity at a particular location in the Earth is the average rate of seismic energy release per unit volume.
The New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ), sometimes called the New Madrid fault line, is a major seismic zone and a prolific source of intraplate earthquakes in the Southern and Midwestern United States, stretching to the southwest from New Madrid, Missouri.
A volcano tectonic earthquake or volcano earthquake is caused by the movement of magma beneath the surface of the Earth. The movement results in pressure changes where the rock around the magma has a change in stress. At some point, this stress can cause the rock to break or move. This seismic activity is used by scientists to monitor volcanoes. The earthquakes may also be related to dike intrusion and/or occur as earthquake swarms. Usually they are characterised by high seismic frequency and lack the pattern of a main shock followed by a decaying aftershock distribution of fault related tectonic earthquakes.
The 2006 Gulf of Mexico earthquake occurred in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on September 10 at 10:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time. The intraplate earthquake measured 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale and its epicenter was located about 250 miles (400 km) west-southwest of Anna Maria, Florida. The event was felt throughout much of the Gulf Coast of the United States and was the second earthquake of magnitude 5 or greater in the Gulf during 2006. Felt intensities, as measured on the Mercalli intensity scale, were as high as IV (Light) in Florida, with parts of Georgia at III (Weak).
The Virginia seismic zones in the U.S. state of Virginia include the Giles County seismic zone and the Central Virginia seismic zone. Earthquakes in the state are irregular and rarely reach over 4.5 in magnitude.
The 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake and tsunami occurred on August 17, 1976, at 00:11 local time near the islands of Mindanao and Sulu, in the Philippines. It measured 8.0 on the moment magnitude scale occurring at a depth of 20 km (12 mi). The earthquake was accompanied by a destructive tsunami that resulted in a majority of the estimated 5,000 to 8,000 fatalities. It was the deadliest and strongest earthquake in the Philippines in 58 years since the 1918 Celebes Sea earthquake.
Earthquakes have occurred in Western Australia (WA) on a regular basis throughout its geological history.
A series of small volcanic earthquakes measuring less than 4.0 on the Richter magnitude scale took place in the sparsely populated Nazko area of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, from October 9, 2007, to June 12, 2008. They occurred just west of Nazko Cone, a small tree-covered cinder cone that last erupted about 7,200 years ago.
The 1995 Gulf of Aqaba earthquake occurred on November 22 at 06:15 local time and registered 7.3 on the Mw scale. The epicenter was located in the central segment of the Gulf of Aqaba, the narrow body of water that separates Egypt's Sinai Peninsula from the western border of Saudi Arabia. At least 8 people were killed and 30 were injured in the meizoseismal area.
The 2011 Oklahoma earthquake was a 5.7 magnitude intraplate earthquake which occurred near Prague, Oklahoma on November 5 at 10:53 p.m. CDT in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the vicinity of several active wastewater injection wells. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), it was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Oklahoma until the 2016 Oklahoma earthquake. The previous record was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake that struck near the town of El Reno in 1952. The quake's epicenter was approximately 44 miles (71 km) east-northeast of Oklahoma City, near the town of Sparks and was felt in the neighboring states of Texas, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri and even as far away as Tennessee and Wisconsin. The quake followed several minor quakes earlier in the day, including a 4.7 magnitude foreshock. The quake had a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale in the area closest to the epicenter. Numerous aftershocks were detected after the main quake, with a few registering at 4.0 magnitude.
This is a list of different types of earthquake.
The 2014–2015 eruption of Bárðarbunga was a Hawaiian eruption in the Bárðarbunga volcanic system in Iceland, that began on 29 August 2014, and ended on 27 February 2015. The eruption emitted large volumes of sulphur dioxide and impacted air quality in Iceland. There was no effect on flights outside of the immediate vicinity due to a lack of a significant emission of volcanic ash. The eruption took place in the lava field of Holuhraun northeast of the Bárðarbunga caldera proper.
The geological deformation of Iceland is the way that the rocks of the island of Iceland are changing due to tectonic forces. The geological deformation help to explain the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, fissures, and the shape of the island. Iceland is the largest landmass situated on an oceanic ridge. It is an elevated plateau of the sea floor, situated at the crossing of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland ridge. It lies along the oceanic divergent plate boundary of North American Plate and Eurasian Plate. The western part of Iceland sits on the North American Plate and the eastern part sits on the Eurasian Plate. The Reykjanes Ridge of the Mid-Atlantic ridge system in this region crosses the island from southwest and connects to the Kolbeinsey Ridge in the northeast.
As part of the Comoro Islands chain in the Mozambique Channel, the geology of Mayotte is virtually the same as the geology of the Comoros, the rest of the island chain which is independent of France. The island resulted from the rifting of Madagascar away from Africa as well as "hotspot" mantle plume activity, and is also impacted by seismicity and deformation associated with the East African Rift. However, because Mayotte is a part of France its geology is significantly more researched than that of other islands in the chain.
On 11 November 2018, a seismic event of unknown origin occurred about 24 kilometres (15 mi) off the coast of Mayotte, an overseas department and region of France in the Indian Ocean. It was recorded by seismograms globally, including in Kenya, Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and Hawaii, almost 18,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) away. Despite this, no one felt it. The seismic waves lasted for over 20 minutes. Most earthquakes have P waves and S waves, which are later followed by long-period surface waves. The Mayotte event lacked P waves and S waves, but did cause a long-period surface wave travelling at 14,000 km/h (9,000 mph) around the globe. Additionally, the signal released by the earthquake resembled a clean sine wave, while most earthquake waves have multiple frequencies.
The 2019 Cotabato earthquakes were an earthquake swarm which struck the province of Cotabato on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines in October 2019. Three of these earthquakes were above 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale with a Mercalli intensity of VIII. More than 40 people have been reported dead or missing and nearly 800 were injured as a result of these events.
An earthquake struck near the Hawaiian island of Lanai on February 19, at 10:11 pm HST with an estimated magnitude of 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale (Mw ). It remains one of the largest seismic event to hit the Hawaiian Islands since the 1868 Kaʻū earthquake, with its effects being felt throughout the entire archipelago. It caused severe damage on the islands of Lanai, Molokai and Maui. A tsunami may have been generated however there are speculations if it had actually happened. Despite the size of the quake and the extent of damage, there were no deaths.
An earthquake occurred off the coast of the Alaska Peninsula on July 28, 2021, at 10:15 p.m. local time. The large megathrust earthquake had a moment magnitude of 8.2 according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). A tsunami warning was issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) but later cancelled. The mainshock was followed by a number of aftershocks, including three that were of magnitude 5.9, 6.1 and 6.9 respectively.
On 9 July 2019, at 8:36 PM (PST), an earthquake measuring Mw 5.6 jolted the province of North Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and other nearby provinces. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported one dead and three injured in Makilala after the earthquake, and a total of 164 families affected in Cotabato Province. Near the epicenter of the earthquake, the severity of strong ground motion was assigned VI (Strong) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. A total of 106 schools, 119 houses, and 14 other infrastructures were damaged by the earthquake.