Category Archives: focal mechanisms

Friday Focal Mechanism: Magnitude 7.2, Western Pakistan

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Chris Rowan

Why are we getting an extensional earthquake at a convergent plate boundary? Continue reading →

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, geophysics, tectonics

Tectonics of the M7 earthquake near Christchurch, New Zealand

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Chris Rowan

This post was written in response to the Darfield earthquake in September 2010. The most recent seismic activity is discussed here. [Updated 8th September 1200 GMT – see bottom of post. And check out the PodClast discussion of this earthquake, … Continue reading →

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, geohazards, tectonics

Friday Focal Mechanism

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Chris Rowan

The earthquake that particularly caught my eye this week occurred on Tuesday off the coast of Mexico: This focal mechanism is pure strike-slip: that is, it is the result of two sides of a fault moving laterally past each other, … Continue reading →

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, tectonics

Friday(ish) Focal Mechanisms: Samoa’s hidden rupture

Posted on August 21, 2010 by Chris Rowan

How what we thought was one great earthquake turned out to be two, or possibly even three, at the same time. Continue reading →

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms

Friday Focal Mechanisms: Haiti, revisited

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Chris Rowan

The new research that acquits the Enriquillo Fault of causing the Haiti earthquake. Continue reading →

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