Friday, October 7, 2011

Virginia earthquake update


I think we're beginning to see the improvement in seismic instrumentation.  Of course, there may be better stuff inside the paywall, but we'll never see it!

The events towards the lake (which I think is responsible) have formed a very neat little cluster.  If you had sufficient seismometers you might see the phenomenon of 'identical siblings'.  This is where the seismic traces on all instruments are identical for 2 or more events.  When you see that, you know it is due to fluid movement, since this has been seen in injected oil fields.

People think this is over for another thousand years, but this fault movement has put strain on the boundaries, and it could generate more significant earthquakes.  Better get that monument fixed fast!

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