Category Archives: focal mechanisms

More large aftershocks rattle Christchurch: will it ever end?

Analysis of the ongoing earthquake sequence. Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, geohazards, tectonics

Earthquake location matters, part eleventy

It’s been a month since the Tohuku earthquake and tsunami rattled then swamped northern Honshu, and Japan continues to be rattled by sizeable aftershocks. A magnitude 7.1 shock last Thursday initially set off further tsunami alerts but the rupture turned … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, geohazards, society

Magnitude 8.9 (or 9.0, or 9.1!) Earthquake off the coast of Japan

Around 3pm local time yesterday, there was a massive earthquake about 100 miles off the east coast of northern Honshu Island, Japan. Initially calculated to be a magnitude 8.9, it has since been upgraded: the current CMT solution at the … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, geohazards, tectonics

Magnitude 6.3 earthquake rocks Christchurch

[Note: see the bottom of this post for the latest updates and links – last update 26th February]. A few hours ago, Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand, was once again shaken by a large … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, geohazards, society, tectonics

Friday focal mechanisms: Chile’s persistent seismic gap

The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that shook Chile in February 2010 occurred within a seismic gap – but new research suggests that it did not fill it. Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, geohazards