Strong Earthquake Kills 17 People in Iran-(are these guys firing of nukes)

ap ^ | 3.31.06 | ALI AKBAR DAREINI,

[Flavius]

EHRAN, Iran - A strong earthquake followed by an even stronger aftershock jolted western Iran early Friday, killing at least 17 and injuring hundreds, state media reported. ADVERTISEMENT

The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 and was centered near Boroujerd and Doroud, two industrial cities in western Iran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Hours later, it was followed shortly before dawn by two weaker aftershocks and a third tremor with a magnitude of 6.0, IRNA reported.

Provincial official Ali Barani said the quake flattened several villages. Rescue teams have been sent to the region, 210 miles southwest of Tehran, Barani told IRNA

Seventeen bodies have been pulled out of destroyed houses in Silakhor, a region north of Doroud, state-run radio said, reporting 300 injured. The injured were taken to hospitals in Boroujerd and Doroud.

Doroud governor Nasrollah Rashno told IRNA that the quake has damaged buildings and toppled telephone lines.

People in Doroud ran into the streets in panic when the first quake hit shortly after midnight. Many spent the remainder of the night outside.

"We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri told The Associated Press by telephone.

Chaharmiri said there were no scenes of destruction in Doroud such as those seen in the past in the wake of similar quakes around Iran.

In February 2005, a 6.4-magnitude quake in southern Iran killed 612 people and injured more than 1,400.

A magnitude 6.6 quake flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26,000 people.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. On average, it experiences at least one slight earthquake every day.

[Publius]

No, they're not firing off nukes. It's Karl Rove's earthquake machine.

[neodad]

The seismic profile of a nuclear detonation is easily distinguished from an earthquake.

[Myrddin]

We just had a total eclipse of the sun that peaked over Ghana. There was a big earthquake in Turkey after the total eclipse passed over them in Feb 2005. It killed 17,000.

[Flavius]

i love google

EVASION SCENARIOS

If a nuclear explosion is conducted deep underground (depth around 1 km) at the center of a large spherical cavity in hard rock, with radius greater than or equal to about 25 meters times the cube root of the yield in kilotons, then the seismic signals can be reduced by a so-called decoupling factor that may reach up to about 70. It is easier to build cavities of the same volume that are elongated rather than spherical, and such aspherical cavities can also achieve high decoupling factors, but they also increase the concentration of stress on the cavity and can make it much more likely that radionuclides will be released into the atmosphere and be detected by the radionuclide monitoring network of the IMS. An overall evaluation of the cavity decoupling scenario therefore raises a number of different technical issues:

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~richards/SeismoandCTBTVerif.html

[Calpernia]

Tesla?

[Strategerist]

Escapes me why the newswires use these crappy local magnitude determinations from these third world countries instead of USGS (quake was M 5.7 per the USGS.)

Anyway, it's far too big to be anything but the largest of thermonuclear weapons, which the Iranians obviously don't have.

Iran is one of the most naturally seismic countries in the world and this quake was near one of the largest faults.

I was anticipating months of people asking "was it a nuke?" for every Iranian quake..guess I was right.

[Strategerist]

There are an average of 4 Magnitude 5+ earthquakes worldwide daily.

There's nothing remotely unusual about worldwide earthquake activity today.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

" It's Karl Rove's earthquake machine. "

It's the Super Duper Electro Magno Rove ( DELUX ) Earthquake machine.

Looks like they are softening up the mullahs before the major battle begins.

[bd476]

Magnitude 5.7 - WESTERN IRAN

2006 March 31 01:17:02 UTC

Earthquake Details

Magnitude	5.7 (Moderate)
Date-Time	Friday, March 31, 2006 at 01:17:02 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Friday, March 31, 2006 at 4:47:02 AM = local time at epicenter
Location	33.583°N, 48.800°E
Depth	10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region	WESTERN IRAN
Distances	45 km (25 miles) ENE of Khorramabad, Iran 100 km (60 miles) WSW of Arak, Iran 135 km (80 miles) S of Hamadan, Iran 335 km (210 miles) SW of TEHRAN, Iran
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 8 km (5.0 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters	Nst= 93, Nph= 93, Dmin=813 km, Rmss=1.23 sec, Gp= 54°, M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7
Source

[FairOpinion]

[Flavius]

sweet stuff i see that and raise you thisFINDING HIDDEN NUKES
BY JIM WILSON
Published on: May 1, 1997
Save a link to this article and return to it at www.savethis.comSave a link to this article and return to it at www.savethis.com Email a link to this articleEmail a link to this article Printer-friendly version of this articlePrinter-friendly version of this article View a list of the most popular articles on our siteView a list of the most popular articles on our site
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Gerhardt's claim jibed with an earlier news story. In March 1993, South Africa President F.W. de Klerk had admitted that his country had at one time possessed a secretly developed, small nuclear arsenal, but that it had junked it in 1989 in order to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Had Gerhardt been a more credible source, the mystery might have been solved. The problem was that Gerhardt had been convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. And so to this day, the incident lacks a verifiable explanation.

The convoluted story, which is not widely known outside the intelligence community, underscores what is perhaps the greatest challenge facing scientists as the world's major powers begin to dismantle their nuclear arsenals. If an aboveground nuclear explosion like the one that is presumed responsible for the Vela Flash is difficult to prove, imagine the difficulty in ferreting out evidence of a blast that was intentionally hidden.

"If a country wants to evade detection, you can think of a variety of subterfuges," Charles Carrigan, a geophysicist and an expert on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), told Popular Mechanics during our recent visit to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in Livermore, California.

Currently, one of the best hiding places for a nuclear test is in a mine shaft, says Carrigan. But after the treaty goes into effect, in about two years, even the deepest hole will be a less secure hiding place. "A 1-kiloton explosion can look like a magnitude 4 earthquake," Carrigan explains. And so within minutes of a nuclear detonation, the CTBT technicians that monitor the seismic activity, atmospheric sound waves, underwater sound waves, and radioactive particle and gas detection data streaming into the International Data Center in Vienna, Austria, will have their first signal that something is amiss.

Then the hard work begins. The data from the sensor network will identify the approximate site of the explosion within about 400 sq. miles. Then someone would have to inspect the suspect terrain, most likely a mining region, and bring back legally acceptable proof that a nuclear detonation–rather than an earthquake or mining explosion or accident–occurred.

The key to making this happen, says Carrigan, is the ability to detect small amounts of two exotic gases–xenon-133 and argon-37–produced in nuclear explosions as they rise to the surface along natural faults and cracks. "If you detect them coming up fissures or faults, that means something happened very recently," Carrigan says. By "small" he means really, really small. Finding evidence of hidden nukes by detecting these gases at ultralow levels is the equivalent of finding a ping-pong ball filled with chemicals in Lake Michigan.

To do this, Carrigan and colleagues Jay Zucca–a fellow geophysicist–Ray Heinle, Bryant Hudson and John Nitao (all physicists) performed an ingenious experiment. In 1993, they simulated a deeply buried underground nuclear explosion by mixing small amounts of two non-radioactive gases–helium-3 and sulfur hexafluoride–inside an underground chemical explosion at the Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site.

Dubbed the nonproliferation experiment, the chemical explosion did not produce any new cracks in the ground, but still, over time, the two gases showed up in metal air-sampling tubes pushed between 3 and 15 ft. into the ground in existing fissures.

The gases appeared during periods of low atmospheric pressure, such as just before or during storms, often snowstorms, when the pressure allowed the gases to rise to the surface along the faults. Nearly 200 gas samples were taken over about one and a half years. The heavy sulfur hexafluoride appeared first, 50 days after the detonation, with the lighter helium showing up more than a year afterward, at 375 days.

This surprising result occurred–just as computer models predicted–because the heavier sulfur hexafluoride gas spread out less and moved directly up the fractures, Carrigan says. Meanwhile, the helium diffused sideways into the porous structure of the rocks and therefore took longer to rise. (See illustration above.)

The researchers predict that if a 1000-ton nuclear test were staged under atmospheric conditions similar to the 1993 experiment, xenon-133 and argon-37 produced by the nuclear explosions would be detectable at 50 and 80 days after the detonation, respectively. If low-pressure systems roll in, they would turn up even sooner. Precise timing is important, because xenon's half-life is 5.3 days and argon's is 34.8 days. A gas has reached its half-life when there is half as much of it as the initial amount.

For this reason, the LLNL team believes on-site inspections for nuclear tests should be timed with the arrival of the low-pressure systems that cause storms. They also suggest that air sampling stations be placed in existing cracks and fissures, even hundreds of yards from a test's estimated ground zero, rather than having placement based solely on proximity to the estimated ground zero. "We can't absolutely guarantee there won't be cheating," says Carrigan. "But we've made it much more difficult."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/law_enforcement/1280891.html?page=2&c=y

[null and void]

Tesla?

HAARP...

[Publius]

Looks like they are softening up the mullahs before the major battle begins.

If that is what is going on, then they'll bring out Karl Rove's Extraterrestrial Air Force, with its UFO's using the patented gravity amplifier drive powered by the matter/anti-matter engine. It's the only way to test their air defense systems.

[FairOpinion]

"Currently, one of the best hiding places for a nuclear test is in a mine shaft, says Carrigan. But after the treaty goes into effect, in about two years, even the deepest hole will be a less secure hiding place. "A 1-kiloton explosion can look like a magnitude 4 earthquake," Carrigan explains. Currently, one of the best hiding places for a nuclear test is in a mine shaft, says Carrigan. But after the treaty goes into effect, in about two years, even the deepest hole will be a less secure hiding place. "A 1-kiloton explosion can look like a magnitude 4 earthquake," Carrigan explains. And so within minutes of a nuclear detonation, the CTBT technicians that monitor the seismic activity, atmospheric sound waves, underwater sound waves, and radioactive particle and gas detection data streaming into the International Data Center in Vienna, Austria, will have their first signal that something is amiss. "


===

IF and WHEN they MONITOR the other phenomenology, which they do NOT do right now.

[Flavius]

they know everyone is gunning for them they would be stupid to bluff

also didnt the korea just appear with nukes one fine spring day

[bd476]

Earthquake Ping List. Please send a Freepmail if you want to be added
or removed from this list.

• Magnitude 5.7 (Moderate)
• # Date-Time Friday, March 31, 2006 at 01:17:02 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time
• # Friday, March 31, 2006 at 4:47:02 AM = local time at epicenter
  
  
• Location 33.583°N, 48.800°E
• Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
• Region WESTERN IRAN
  
  Distances
  
  
• 45 km (25 miles) ENE of Khorramabad, Iran
• 100 km (60 miles) WSW of Arak, Iran
• 135 km (80 miles) S of Hamadan, Iran
• 335 km (210 miles) SW of TEHRAN, Iran
  
  

[FairOpinion]

"also didnt the korea just appear with nukes one fine spring day"


====

Funny, the Dems aren't complaining about THAT "intelligence failure".

[BunnySlippers]

6.0 been there, done that (hackneyed phrase). But any building in LA SHOULD withstand that mag.

[Publius]

Having lived through the 6.7 Northridge quake, I'd agree.

[BunnySlippers]

Northridge was only 6.7? I thought it was more. :-P

[Publius]

It was 6.7, but it was shallow, which made it very destructive. I lived through the 6.8 here in Seattle five years ago. That one was deep, so it did much less damage.

[Strategerist]

Northridge was indeed "just" Magnitude 6.7

Keep in mind the energy release, and thus destructive power of a quake, goes up 1.4 times for each .1 magnitude, 3 times for each .3 magnitude, 5.5 times for each .5 magnitude, and 32 times for each full magnitude point.

Northridge was 32 times more powerful than this quake in Iran, for example.

The biggest credible quake you could get directly under LA is in the 7.2 to 7.4 range, or upwards of of 5+ times more powerful than Northridge.

[BunnySlippers]

Funny as the Whittier quake extracted more damage on my house than Northridge. Although Northridge was a wild ride.

[M. Espinola]

This is the warning to the Mullah régime just prior to the final coming showdown.

[Strategerist]

It was much shallower than the Nisqually quake but not REALLY shallow; it was still fairly far underground on a blind thrust.

Also, most of the energy of Northridge was actually directed into fairly uninhabited mountains.

It could have been much, much worse...in timing as well.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

That is so cool.


ROVE PRODUCTS

[Strategerist]

Quakes actually direct their energy in many cases like rayguns. It's not surprising at all that you would have had more damage from Whittier....I presume you are further south in the LA area.

[BunnySlippers]

That scares the heck outta me. Although my family came here from Germany in the 1870s and not one was hurt in any way by a quake.

Maybe I am in denial.

[Publius]

I was living in Simi Valley, just across the street from the Reagan Library, for the Northridge event. My apartment building was on granite, so I took minimal damage. The liquifaction zone, however, ran through the golf course across the street and wrecked the clubhouse.

I was living in La Crescenta for the Whittier event, and that one scared the hell out of me. But other than the mirror separating from my chest of drawers, I did all right.

[BunnySlippers]

My home is on a newly discovered fault that runs under downtown LA. I am in the Silverlake range ... an off shoot of downtown LA.

The Whittier quake appeared to "twist" the structure ... not so much shake.

[Strategerist]

There's some evidence that the Los Angeles basin has been in an unusual seismic lull for the last 150 years or so.

Unfortunately, that's when everyone moved there.

In part because they've trenched a lot of faults and found a lot of prehistoric earthquakes, and also because the total stress release of the earthquakes in the last 100+ years hasn't been nearly enough to relieve the stress in the region.

[Publius]

Silverlake? The "swish alps"?

[BunnySlippers]

Yup, the Swish Alps. But my living room has a killer view of the downtown skyline, the Hollywood sign and the beach in the far distance.

[BunnySlippers]

But you are in WA. You used to live here?

[Pro-Bush]

We HAARP'd em'!

[Strategerist]

I have a friend who lives in Los Feliz.

They found an assortment of blind thrusts under LA once they started looking for them after Northridge...Elysian Park, Puente Hills, etc. I presume that's what you're referring to.

[Publius]

I lived in the L.A. area from 1974 to 1989, and then from 1993 to 1997.

[BunnySlippers]

Yah, but my family is in Ventura for all these years. But then, that is not so far away.

[BunnySlippers]

Perhaps, can't remember the name of the fault except that it ran under the skyscrapers downtown. Elysian Valley ... I think that's it.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

The timing here is very very interesting.
Let's put 2+2 together here.
Last week ? Iran gets hit with a similar earthquake.
The big spinned up hoopla in the media ?
Andrew Card quits and the talking heads say now that Karl Rove has complete control of the White house staff now.
Today ? we get the news of ( Once again ) another earthquake in Iran.
Someone is warming up the ( Super Duper Deluxe Electro Magno Rove Earthquaking machine ).
Karl Rove ? keep up the good work.

[Southack]

The seismogram of Iran's earthquake this morning shows that this was a natural, not a man-made event (such as a nuke test).

[Strategerist]

Well, if you want to not sleep at night, read this (Elysian Park thrust is mentioned.)

http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~sieh/pubs_docs/papers/P95a.pdf

[justa-hairyape]

Hypothetically speaking, if the Iranians get fully functional nukes from Russia, there is no need to test them.

[M. Espinola]

Great graph!

[Southack]

"Hypothetically speaking, if the Iranians get fully functional nukes from Russia, there is no need to test them."

Only if they used them within 60 days of getting them.

The high-tech maintenance issues for nukes is non-trivial, and runs contrary to most urban myths about them.

Also, keep in mind that nukes leave a unique radiation signature much like DNA. We'll know who built the nuke, where the uranium was enriched (or plutonium bred) shortly after any surface or aerial detonation anywhere (sub-surface can take up to 90 days depending on depth and rock formations above the blast)...something that Russia, China, Pakistan, or France would not appreciate some 15 minutes later (ICBM travel time from the U.S. and from our Boomers at sea).

[Southack]

Live seismogram data worldwide: http://aslwww.cr.usgs.gov/Seismic_Data/heli2.shtml

[justa-hairyape]

I hope we would respond. We never did respond to the anthrax (unless it did come through Iraq). I dont buy the cover story that we do not know where it came from.

[Southack]

The anthrax was Iraqi as best that I can tell, but apparently we can't blame Hussein unless we find anthrax (or biological growth material) in Iraq...due to politics and PR fallout.

President Bush isn't shy about knocking out foreign leadership that attacks the U.S.

Libya's Khadafy certainly figured that fact out in a hurry.