Category Archives: tectonics

Update: Christchurch aftershocks

As the aftershocks of the Darfield quake continue, where do the future seismic dangers lie? Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, geohazards, tectonics

The far-travelled ground

Be honest: when Evelyn asked the geoblogosphere, ‘what’s your favourite geology word?’, you all knew which word I was going to pick, didn’t you? Allochthonous. Allochthonous, the word that no-one can spell. Allochthonous, the word no-one can pronounce, it seems, … Continue reading

Categories: basics, geology, hydrology, tectonics

Seismo-volcanism in Eritrea

The Great Rift Valley marks where East Africa is slowly attempting to break away from the rest of the African continent, at a rate of less than a centimetre a year. At the north-eastern end of the rift, where it … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, tectonics

More large aftershocks rattle Christchurch: will it ever end?

Analysis of the ongoing earthquake sequence. Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, geohazards, tectonics

The many faces of earthquake triggering

Can large earthquakes beget more large earthquakes? It’s an easy question to ask, but much more difficult to answer. Depending on the distance from, and time since, the initial earthquake, the processes that may result in ‘seismic triggering’ are very … Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, geohazards, tectonics