Category Archives: plate tectonics

2018/02/16
7:56 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: ¡Oaxaca, Mexico!

There was just now an earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico between the other large earthquakes from last 2017.09.08 (M 8.1) and 2017.09.08 (M 7.1). There has already been a M 5.8 aftershock.Here is the USGS website for today’s M 7.2 earthquake. … Continue reading →

Posted in earthquake, education, geology, pacific, plate tectonics, subduction

2018/02/12
12:43 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: 1960 Valdivia, Chile M 9.5

In commemoration of the #EarthquakeCup, I have put together a summary for the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake, the M 9.5 1960 Valdivia, Chile Earthquake. The Peru-Chile trench is quite active and generated Great earthquakes (M>8) in 1985, 2010, 2014, and … Continue reading →

Posted in earthquake, education, geology, pacific, plate tectonics, subduction

2018/02/09
2:00 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: 1971 Sylmar, CA

This earthquake was the second earthquake in the state of CA to lead to major changes in how people in the state handled earthquake hazards and risk and today is the 47th anniversary of this earthquake. The first important earthquake … Continue reading →

Posted in collision, earthquake, education, geology, los angeles, plate tectonics, San Andreas

2018/01/24
2:03 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: Gulf of Alaska UPDATE #2

I thought it would be interesting to see the seismicity with time. Perhaps this could help us learn about the fault sources associated with this earthquake sequence. I am not sure it worked as some issues cannot be dealt with … Continue reading →

Posted in alaska, earthquake, education, geology, pacific, plate tectonics, strike-slip, subduction

2018/01/23
7:38 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: Gulf of Alaska UPDATE #1

Well. What a firestorm of social media discusions about this earthquake. It seems that, like how we learn so much when earthquakes like this happen, the amount of interacting in public on social media has been growing earthquake by earthquake. … Continue reading →

Posted in alaska, earthquake, education, geology, pacific, plate tectonics, strike-slip, subduction

2018/01/23
11:41 AM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: Gulf of Alaska!

I was asleep in bed, trying to catch up to prevent myself from getting ill, when there was a large earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska (GA), offshore of Kodiak, Alaska. When I wakened, I noticed a fb message from … Continue reading →

Posted in alaska, earthquake, education, geology, pacific, plate tectonics, strike-slip, subduction, Transform

2018/01/19
7:06 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: Gulf of California

Today we had an earthquake with magnitude M 6.3 in the Gulf of California (GOC). The GOC is formed by transtension (extension along a strike-slip fault system) along the North-America-Pacific plate boundary. Transtension happens when the plate motion across a … Continue reading →

Posted in earthquake, education, geology, mexico, plate tectonics, strike-slip

2018/01/15
12:14 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: Peru Update #1

Well, I missed looking further into a key update paper and used figures from an older paper on my interpretive poster yesterday. Thanks to Stéphane Baize for pointing this out! Turns out, after their new analyses, the M 7.1 earthquake … Continue reading →

Posted in earthquake, education, geology, pacific, plate tectonics, subduction

2018/01/14
7:55 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: Peru

We had a damaging and (sadly) deadly earthquake in southern Peru in the last 24 hours. This is an earthquake, with magnitude M 7.1, that is associated with the subduction zone forming the Peru-Chile trench (PCT). The Nazca plate (NP) … Continue reading →

Posted in earthquake, education, geology, pacific, plate tectonics, subduction

2018/01/11
1:30 PM
by: Jay Patton

Earthquake Report: Burma!

There was an earthquake in Burma today! The epicenter plotted very close to the Sagaing fault (SF), a major dextral (right-lateral) strike-slip fault system, part of the plate boundary between the India and Eurasia plates. This fault system accommodates much … Continue reading →

Posted in asia, collision, earthquake, education, geology, Indian Ocean, plate tectonics, strike-slip