Breaking on CNN - another massive earthquake 7.9 - this time

[malaise]

off the Sumatra coast - 54 miles deep. Warnings in Indian Ocean countries/islands.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. The plates are active today...

:scared:

[madrchsod]

2. mother earth is a bit upset....

maybe the people will have enough time to get to safety

[DaveinJapan]

3. I'm sitting on pins and needles here...

I've never heard of 2 near 8.0 quakes in the world on 2 consecutive days, is this more commonplace than I think? (I'm hoping so lol)

[malaise]

4. If I were in your part of the planet

I too would be on pins and needles. Stay safe. :grouphug:

[DaveinJapan]

6. Thanks much! Appreciate the good wishes. nt

[Are_grits_groceries]

25. There are a lot of people who might be affected in other parts of the world.

The tectonic plates are apparently shifting. If this shifting causes problems on another side of a plate, somebody else may get whacked.

Charleston, SC had a major quake in 1806 which they estimate to have been 7.3.

It would probably discombobulate "He Who Must Not Be Named Because Everyone Is Sick Of Reading About Him."

[Wednesdays]

27. Minor point: Charleston quake was in 1886

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1886_Charleston_earthquake

[malaise]

38. We're more than overdue

Don't remind me.

http://www.midislandcarrental.com/jamaica-times/16jan1907.htm
<snip>
St Thomas, Jan 15. (1907)

A terrible earthquake occurred in Jamaica on Monday afternoon.

Kingston was destroyed, and there was much loss of life.

The shocks continue. Everybody is camping out and there is much distress.

A fire started immediately after the earthquake.

[Ruby the Liberal]

28. You may appreciate this link

Daily quakes over 5.0: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_big.php

Stay safe!

[KharmaTrain]

5. Spoke With A Friend On Maui

They had a hairy day yesterday...listening for constant Tsunami updates. Fortunately nothing materialized. He's also a ham radio operator and was in contact with some people on Samoa. They reported the place was a mess...power is out, roads are impassible and at least a dozen people are reported dead with many more still missing. Not much coverage on our corporate media...guess ACORN couldn't be blamed on this.

:hi:

[whyverne]

7. I'm sticking with "tidal wave",

until they come up with a better name.

I know that tidal waves have nothing to do with tides, but "tsunami" translates as "harbor wave" and that's just as meaningless.

How about "quake wave" or "BMF wave" (big mother f***ing), or BMJ wave (bad mama jama).

Anyway, even though it's going to get near freezing tonight in PA, I have a reason to say that I'm glad I don't live in Hawaii anymore. (No I'm not)

[Larkspur]

10. How about titan or titanic wave?

The ancient Greek Titans were agents of massive change and chaos.

[Posteritatis]

13. Original etymologies and current words don't need to line up

"Kamikaze" translates as "divine wind," but that doesn't mean everyone uses it in a variety of very different senses. This is no different.

[whyverne]

36. Exactly, that is why I'm staying with "tidal wave". n/t

[RB TexLa]

8. I guess the cable news networks will have some reporting on it if they find out some

Americans have been hurt or had their schedules effected.

[jhain]

12. heard the National Park visitor's center was destroyed yesterday n/t

[NashVegas]

9. Hey Let's Dig For Oil

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. Volcano Anak Krakatoa is only 501 mi from Padang. It is active now.

Info on Krakatoa: http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/krakatoa/krakatoa.html

July 18, 2009 - Small eruptions of Mt Anak Krakatau, the volcano in the Sunda Strait near Lampung province, till Wednesday were reported to have recorded a tremendous increase during the past few days, while the status of the volcano remained at the third level of alertness.

At least 828 small eruptions were recorded to have happened on the volcano with 63 volcanic quakes, 434 tremors and 366 times of emission in the past six days, said Anto Prambudi, head of Mt Anak Krakatau Monitoring Post in Pasauran village, Serang district, Banten province, on Wednesday.
<snip>
One of the most powerful volcanic explosions in the history of the world occured at Krakatoa in the last century. Krakatoa was formerly a volcanic island located between Java and Sumatra. It was located near a region where the Indo-Australian plate subducts under the Eurasian plate.
In May, 1883, a series of eruptions commenced which continued until August 27, 1883, when a cataclismic explosion blew the island apart.

The large explosion was due to super-hot steam, created when the walls of the volcano ruptered and let ocean water into the magma chamber.

The island exploded with the force of 100 megatons (the Hiroshima bomb was about 20 kilotons). The explosion was heard as far away as Madagascar (2,200 miles). Tsunamis from the explosion were raised to 131 ft, and destroyed 163 villages along the coast of Java and Sumatra. Ash from the explosion rose 50 miles in altitude (higher than altitudes where airplanes fly), and it affected the weather for the next year.

Ash can have a cooling effect on weather because it remains in the sky and reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the surface.
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link%3D/earth/interior/Krakatoa.html&back%3D/search/search_navigation.html&edu%3Dmid

Krakatoa's explosion in 1883 was gigantic. If the new volcano(Anak Krakatoa) growing there, has a major eruption, it could be devastating.

[malaise]

15. Didn't the author mean two centuries ago

Krakatoa has always fascinated me. I don't want to think about another major eruption.

[Are_grits_groceries]

18. Recent volcanic eruption at Anak Krakatau (child of Krakatoa). July 20,2009

Modern day Anak Krakatoa

Here is a link I accidentally left out: http://www.antara.co.id/en/view/?i=1245298164&c=FEA&s=

Anak Krakatoa is stirring now. It has grown where Krakatoa once was. Google Anak Krakatoa if you want boatloads of info.

I don't know if you have read this. It is fascinating.
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (P.S.) by Simon Winchester
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D9DFPQ08L._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA115_.jpg

[malaise]

19. I haven't read that one

but I've read reports on Krakatoa and watched a fascinating documentary.

[Are_grits_groceries]

22. Well, you might get to witness a replay of sorts.

Anak Krakatoa is a stratovolcano.

Anak Krakatau--meaning child of Krakatau—like the Phoenix reborn from it's own ashes, arose from the depths of the sea floor, where the caldera of it's parent, Krakatau is located. The latest seismic data as well as its prodigious growth rate, seems to indicate that Anak Krakatau may very well be on its way to becoming as powerful and as dangerous as it's parent Krakatau.

Ice core samples, taken from Antarctica, have sulfuric acid contained within them—evidence that Krakatau had erupted many times in history. It is believed that some eruptions of Krakatau prior to 1883, based on the evidence from the ice cores, were even more powerful than the one of August 27, 1883. It is quite possible that Anak Krakatau may take after its extremely powerful and deadly parent.

It has a Plinian eruption.
Seismogram of a Plinian Eruption of Mount Redoubt in Alaska


http://home.comcast.net/~ericfjdiaz/stratovolcano.html

Hope I'm not boring you. As the Chinese say, "May you live in interesting times." I think these times qualify.

[malaise]

37. Thanks for that

Very interesting

[havocmom]

26. Here is an eathquake monitoring site

http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

Suddenly it makes sense why the rich need to get richer. New island building soon. Land developers and swanky resorts can't be far behind. ;)

[smirkymonkey]

35. What about Toba? Does this activity make Toba any more

likely to blow? From what I have heard, If Toba were to explode it could be the end of the world as we know it. The worst geological event possible.

[Are_grits_groceries]

53. Don't know.

It is along the Sumatra fault. There has been some earthquake activity. I don't know if it is classified as extinct or not.

[RoccoR5955]

14. For all the earthquake info check out

http://earthquake.usgs.gov
Another "socialist" program, that gives us information on each and every earthquake on the freakin' planet!

[malaise]

16. Time to lock up those commie loving 'hitlerite' socialists

:sarcasm: :evilgrin:

I love that website.

[sellitman]

17. I spent 6 months on Maui years ago and witnessed a Hurricane.

Scary just doesn't describe it. I hope everyone is safe.

[Odin2005]

20. Uh-oh!

:(

[GCP]

21. Could it be Global Warming?

Seriously - didn't "An Inconvenient Truth" document how land in Canada had risen due to ice melting in Greenland? I may be wrong, but it was something like that.
If ice is melting from Antarctica in huge amounts, the weight on the land mass is much less, and that tectonic plate would maybe rise and shift.

Just a thought.

[Are_grits_groceries]

23. Maybe it plays a part.

Impact of global warming on geological hazards ‘poorly understood’, experts warn.

Geologists are desperately trying to gather data in an attempt to understand how global warming will affect violent geological activity.

As increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels warm the planet, the problems associated with melting ice won’t just raise sea-levels; they will also uncap volcanoes. But just when and how these unstable magmatic beasts will blow in a warmer world is hard to predict.
<snip>
But there is definitely some evidence that less ice means more dramatic eruptions. "As thick ice is getting thinner, there may be an increase in the explosivity of eruptions," says Hugh Tuffen from Lancaster University, UK. Tuffen has spent time in many countries, including Iceland and Chile, studying volcanoes. The effects of climate change over the next 100 years will be different for different volcanoes, he says, and much more data are needed if we are to understand what those effects might be. But such data are not trivial to collect: volcanoes are isolated, dangerous places for field trips.

For example, in Iceland at the end of the last deglaciation period, about 11,000 years ago, there was a huge spike in volcanic activity that is now thought to be due to meltwater flooding the area. In Icelandic volcanoes, the ice provides a protective cap that, when removed, makes the magma below the surface decompress much faster than is already occurring through normal geological movement. The steady state that usually exists is lost, making eruptions faster and more explosive. There is not much delay between the climatic change and the volcanic eruption in these cases, says Tuffen
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/global-warming-causing-volcano-eruptions

Not a lot of evidence yet, but scientists do take the possibility of the effects of global warming on volcanic eruptions seriously.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

33. No.

Global warming does not cause large earthquakes fifty miles under the ground in subduction zones. Subduction causes large earthquakes in subduction zones.

[Statistical]

42. You are kidding right?

Try comparing the weight of ice to the weight of the plates.

It would be like me saying I put a feather on my car because otherwise without it the car will be light enough to blow away. The feather is keeping it "weighed down".

[GCP]

45. No need for the snark

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. Yes

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58F62I20090916

[GCP]

48. Thank you

I was speculating, but it bears some thought - the changes in weight going on around the world.

[DainBramaged]

24. It's Roman Polanski's fault...

:evilgrin:

[951-Riverside]

30. Everyone knows a child rapist cannot create earthquakes.

:evilgrin:

[Hutzpa]

29. These are not earthquake

they are man made destruction....wtf! this is too much earthquake
for it to be natural.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

31. Tell us more.

Was it Obama's earthquake machine?

[Hutzpa]

32. Yes

it was manufactured at the back of the White House next to FLOTUS's green garden.

[Quantess]

34. Hold tight, Sumatra.

[malaise]

39. Over 500 deaths so far

Thousands are missing
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8284208.stm
<snip>
At least 529 people are now known to have died in a powerful quake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday, the government says.

Rescuers struggled on Thursday to find survivors in the rubble of hundreds of collapsed buildings.

More than 400 people have been seriously injured, and the death toll is expected to rise, officials say.

The 7.6-magnitude quake struck close to the city of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province.

The earthquake brought down hospitals, schools and shopping malls, cut power lines and triggered landslides.

[armyowalgreens]

40. A depth of 54 miles is not the deep.

This is bad.

[malaise]

41. Anither quake this morning

6.4 Those poor people must be terrified.

[Rockholm]

43. California today too. Quakes moving east.

Watch out New Madrid Fault and the Charleston faults.

[bullwinkle428]

44. But supposedly, they're all unrelated according to an "earthquake expert"

interviewed this morning on NPR! :crazy:

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. Mother earth is on the rampage

showing us we are really, REALLY small...

[Avalux]

49. Check out this really cool disaster map...

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php

Small quakes occurring right now. :hi:

[malaise]

50. Thanks

Over 1,500 dead so far and many still missing. The good news is that they're still finding people alive.

[Selatius]

51. It's a doomsday map. If I wanted to know of a disaster occuring right now, I'd look at this.

Kind of freaky and interesting.

[Libertas1776]

52. This isn't all one

big publicity stunt for that upcoming dreadful John Cusack movie, is it? :sarcasm: