Author Archives: Chris Rowan

Sendai/Tohoku earthquake round-up

It’s hardly surprising that my browsing this week has been focussed largely on the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan (which is now officially being referred to as the Tohuku earthquake, rather than the Sendai earthquake; I’d complain … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, geohazards, links

Aftershocks of the Sendai earthquake

On a map of global earthquake activity, Japan rather stands out right now: a pulsing boil of seismic activity that all but drowns out the shaking in the rest of the world. As of a few hours ago (5pm Central … Continue reading

Categories: basics, earthquakes, geophysics

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

Stuff we linked to on Twitter last week

Earthquakes The big earthquake news this week has obviously been the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch. For those interested, Chris has been adding links to the latest information, images and videos to his initial post on the quake. But … Continue reading

Categories: links

Aftershocks, triggered earthquakes, and Christchurch’s seismic future

As more scientific information becomes available regarding last week’s magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch, we can look a bit more closely at the nature of this earthquake, how it fits into the overall tectonic picture in New Zealand, and future … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, geohazards, society, tectonics