L'Aquila forum in SESE

At the suggestion of J-F Smekens, we organized a forum to discuss the L'Aquila earthquakes and the prosecution of scientists whose "...reassuring statements [before the mainshock were] widely interpreted to be an anti-alarm" (T. Jordan). The discussion was animated! Thanks to all who joined!

Here is the powerpoint with the discussion materials: pdf pptx

Here is information about the Motivazione from the judge justifiying his decision: link

Here is a link from our INGV colleagues accumulating many relevant documents: http://processoaquila.wordpress.com/.

Fall classes and seminars at ASU

Sorry to be so quiet dear readers (if there are any left of you!). So much to do and so little time to write.

Anyway, here are a couple of links to things teaching-wise that are going on this fall:

• GLG310 Structural Geology (http://arrowsmith310.asu.edu). I am teaching this class for the first time since 2004. It is a good class to teach and we have 44 students!
• Active faulting reading group (http://activetectonics.asu.edu/ActiveFaultingFall2012.html). We are going to do a seminar this fall on various aspects of active faulting and read some papers.
• Surface processes seminar (linked from http://geomorphology.sese.asu.edu/ once we get going). This fall's topic is going to be the Cordillera (including some long-wavelength topics).

How the Earth Was Made - S01E01 San Andreas Fault (Documentary)

This is a cool San Andreas Fault documentary: http://watchdocumentary.com/watch/how-the-earth-was-made-s01e01-san-andreas-fault-video_202fae216.html. Lots of fun commentary by Ken Hudnut and others as well as nice footage along the San Andreas Fault especially in the Carrizo Plain.

Repeat photography shows the amazing damage and rebuilding after the March 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami

This came floating along in the news feed in Facebook from Sue Owen, but seems so impressive it is worth a blog entry to capture it for a while:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2011/09/japan-marks-6-months-since-ear.html



Example:



This combo image, the initial destruction and progress of cleanup after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami is seen in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan. The top photo, taken March 13, shows a street covered by debris burnt by a fire. The middle photo, taken June 3, 2011 shows a partial clean-up of the same street, while the bottom photo taken Sept. 1, 2011 shows the area after the debris was removed. AP / Kyodo News

Updated pages for Kite and Balloon Aerial Photography

Thanks to the hard work of Tsurue Sato, we have a newly updated set of pages for Kite and Balloon Aerial Photography.

The new pages are connected from our Activetectonics research page: Low Altitude Aerial Photography.

I have an old blog posting on this topic as well: Balloon Photography Update. Note that the videos there and on the new pages are some of the most popular of my youtube videos because they were embedded on the Arizona Balloon Company homepage...

Here is a recent photo from CAMP SESE:

USGS real time stream gages and Hurricane Irene effects of streamflow

The US Geological Survey real time stream gages are nicely reflecting the passage of high precipitation associated with Hurricane/Tropical storm/depression Irene: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt. The dots on the map show a general view of the state of flow and many black ones indicating high flow are in the northeast. (USGS Hurricane Irene resources).





If you click on a state (e.g., Pennsylvania) you can zoom in and then click on a particular gage to see the current flow state and its change with time (hydrograph) and build your own graphs, etc.

Here is the page for the Conestoga River at Lancaster, PA which at least right now (Sunday afternoon August 28, 2011) is on the steep rising limb of the hydrograph:





Location is here at this link

This is a critical USGS function that is under threat of severe reduction due to budget cuts.

I noticed that sometimes you have to reload a few times or just wait for the main map to appear. I don't know if they are getting heavy loads due to public interest or what is going on.

Hat tip to Michelle Cooke for this idea.

M5.9 earthquake in Virginia, August 23, 2011

A moderate earthquake occurred today in Virginia (about 66 km NW of Richmond Virginia). It is listed as M5.9 by the USGS and was widely felt in the northeast and mid Atlantic region.

Here is the main USGS site on the event: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0005ild.php. It looks like it was a NNE-trending reverse faulting mechanism (makes some sense with the geologic fabric and the compression directions in the eastern US).

UNAVCO Community Event Response to the 23 August 2011, Mw=5.8 Virginia Earthquake

Watch the event propagate through the USArray: USArray Ground Motion Visualization

Here is a nice NY Times article with information about the damage, a comparison of the felt effects from this event a similar-sized 2004 California earthquake (Parkfield), and a map of historic events in the eastern US (last big event was 5.4 in New Hampshire in 1940).




Watch the Did You Feel It page to see people report their sensation of the event and where.

Here is a short comment about the difference in attenuation between the east and west of North America.

It looks like it occurred within the Central Virginia Seismic zone which is an area that has produced small and moderate events in the past and is noted as a zone of somewhat increased earthquake hazard by the USGS. Note that there was an M4.5 in this area in 2003 (December 9). It was also widely felt.

Note that this was a tie for the largest earthquake recorded in Virginia: Giles County, Virginia 1897 05 31 18:58 UTC Magnitude 5.9

Here it is relative to historic seismicity. Click on link to see it broader with explanation (from USGS OFR 2006-1017):
.




from http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology but is derived from the USGS Open File report 2006-1017 below).

Here is a nice map and commentary from Virginia Tech on the Central Virginia Seismic zone.

Social media will be an important channel for people to communicate about this event:
Here are a few youtube links:
Earthquake Virginia Auto Repair Shop Collapses G&C
DC / Virginia Earthquake Aftermath

Wikipedia site is accumulating contributions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Seismic_Zone

Here it is recorded at Arizona State University (thanks John West):


Here are a few other links I just came up with:
Major earthquakes in Virginia (from Virginia Division of Geology and Mineral Resources)
Earthquakes in Virginia and Vicinity 1774 - 2004 (USGS Open File Report 2006–1017) (big file and takes a while to download)
Virginia Earthquake Information from the USGS

IRIS Event plot suite

Tectonic Setting of the August 2011 Virginia Earthquake (Stein, et al.)

Latest update: 19:05 Arizona time August 29, 2011