Earthquakes because of Kimmys Nuke?

[Ziroc]

Well, SHORTYLY after he detonated his nuke, Japan had an earthquake, and now, Hawaii--which RARELY Has 6.7 earthquakes just got hit.

All that pressure and energy pushed into the earth set the crust off ... pressure has to go somewhere. Seems it found the faults.
Lets see.. If I am right, Seattle and/or California will have a 6+ next.


People don't think when exploding nukes deep underground.. like it won't cause any issues... Damn you Kimmy. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-15-2006, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Ziroc ]

[Larry_OHF]

My sister called from Hawaii. She's okay. She thought it was funny and enjoyed the experience.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally posted by Ziroc: Well, SHORTYLY after he detonated his nuke, Japan had an earthquake, and now, Hawaii--which RARELY Has 6.7 earthquakes just got hit. All that pressure and energy pushed into the earth set the crust off ... pressure has to go somewhere. Seems it found the faults. Lets see.. If I am right, Seattle and/or California will have a 6+ next. People don't think when exploding nukes deep underground.. like it won't cause any issues... Damn you Kimmy. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Aye it would of course. It's like swallowing a bomb...I did that once, funnie story.

[Olorin]

As a geophysics grad student, I have to point out that the North Korean test generated a minor seismic disturbance (around 4.2 or so). Given that naturally occurring 4.2+ earthquakes happen everyday, and much deeper underground than this nuke test, there is no reason to link the N. Korean test to earthquakes in Japan or Hawaii.

The US and USSR set off a lot of underground tests that were significantly larger than the N. Korean test, and there has never been a correlation found between those and increased seismic activity; even in the case of tests in Nevada triggering activity in California.

Besides, Japan is the most seismically active area in the world, and while it's true that 6+ earthquakes are not common in Hawaii, they are expected due to the volcanic activity and the major fault structures that develop along the flanks of the volcanoes.

You can look at earthquakes for the past week here.

There are typically 300+ earthquakes per week just in CA-NV, when you count events down to the 1.0 magnitude range. You can also view world seismicity by following the link on the sidebar, which only displays events above 4.0. The North Korean nuke test was almost too small to even make it on the map.

[Larry_OHF]

Olorin, my sister asked me to try and find out for her if anybody was saying what it was that caused this quake. She said that all her friends were sitting around with no power, trying to figure out what the cause was and if another one might be coming.

Are there any professionals out there that are talking about the why? You'd be my best resource as to where to find that info.

Thanks.

[Olorin]

I'll try to give you an answer this evening. One of the profs in my department spends time every summer at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory studying the seismicity of Hawaii. I'll try to talk to him about the Hawaiian quake today.

[Stonewarrior]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Olorin, my sister asked me to try and find out for her if anybody was saying what it was that caused this quake. She said that all her friends were sitting around with no power, trying to figure out what the cause was and if another one might be coming. Are there any professionals out there that are talking about the why? You'd be my best resource as to where to find that info. Thanks.

If you are looking for someone to equate the North Korean test with the earthquakes just check Fox news or find quotes from the White House, I suspect they might attempt to link the events. LOL

[Olorin]

Well, my professor was not here today, but I did a little more research on the quake. USGS maintains a website that shows earthquakes worldwide from the past week, which is a good source of information.

I was a little surprised to see how deep the quake was (about 40 km). Large quakes in Hawaii are generally the result of pieces of the volcanoes shifting around. As the volcanoes build up from the seafloor, the lava cools quickly upon contact with seawater. This leads to fairly steep slopes along the side of the volcano. Once the volcano grows above sea level, the lava is able to flow along the ground for much greater distances, often all the way to the shore, where it is quenched by the ocean. This leads to the very broad, shallow slopes on the volcanoes above sea level. You can imagine what happens when you put millions of tons of basalt spread out broadly on top of a base that is fairly narrow.

Collapses of parts of the shoreline are common in Hawaii, where volcanic benches grow from lava flow with little or no support for them below sea level. I was actually glad to hear that this recent earthquake took place offshore to the NW of the Big Island. One of the greatest hazards on the Big Island is the collapse of the Kilauea Rift Zone. Around 1/4 of the volcano on the southern side of the Island is separating from the rest of it along a line of faults. Eventually, that whole block will separate and slide off into the ocean. Not only would this be accompanied by a very large earthquake, but the tons of rock falling into the ocean would generate an enormous tsunami. Fortunately, this kind of massive event has not happened on Hawaii during recorded history. But the evidence of massive landslides in the past can be found off the coast of all the Hawaiian islands. Ever wonder why the islands get smaller the farther from the Big Island they are? Because they have lost much of their original real estate to these kinds of massive landslides, as well as millions of years of erosion.

I don't want to give people the wrong impression about Hawaii. While there are major geological dangers like these huge landslides, and of course volcanic activity and earthquakes, they are not necessarily imminent threats. Massive collapses of the volcanic edifices happen once every few 100,000 years. That's a much lower risk of it happening in your lifetime than the people living in California have of experiencing "the Big One".

Getting back to the recent earthquake, you wouldn't find a professional seismologist linking the North Korea nuclear test to a quake in Hawaii. The amount of seismic energy that would reach Hawaii from a 4.2 in North Korea is less than the energy generated by a local 1.0 event due to magma movement in the volcanoes. The "why" of the activity in Hawaii will have to do with the growth and decay of the volcanoes. In this particular case, where the quake was so deep within the earth, it would have something to do with the way that the hot spot fueling the volcanoes is interacting with the oceanic crust under Hawaii.

[Bithron]

Originally posted by Olorin: That's a much lower risk of it happening in your lifetime than the people living in California have of experiencing "the Big One".

Yeah, I don't plan on visiting CA in a while [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Larry_OHF]

Thanks for your answer, Mr. O. I'll tell my sister.