Monday, January 20, 2014

New Zealand M6.2 earthquake

I was attracted to this earthquake since it is such a classic 'normal' earthquake.



Note the beautiful 'beachball' showing extension.  Using my infinite wealth, I flew in this morning for a quick look.



Nope, not much there, so I went back home.



Up into space for a picture.  Amazing how they write giant place names on the ground.  :)  You can see the subduction zone that formed New Zealand, and the earthquake is in a zone where the upper plate is being pulled apart.  It all depends on how things stick if you have compression or extension.  You generally want extension because it allows for 'nice' volcanoes.

An extension earthquake puts out weak PGV for the magnitude (no bang for the buck!).  Still, a hobbit eagle fell at the airport.  Once again it shows that interior fixtures are the weak point for seismic capacity.  Get under something!




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