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Women who wear revealing dresses cause earthquakes: Cleric Tehran, May 4: Women who wear revealing clothing and behave immorally are responsible for earthquakes, this is what a senior Iranian cleric has to say. The cleric's unusual explanation for quakes follows the prediction made by the country's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that a quake is certain to rock Tehran and many of its 12 million inhabitants should relocate to save their lives. Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi told the country's media that women who do not dress in dignified manner "lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society". According to...

Pressure changes cause precious metal to deposit each time the crust moves. Scientists have long known that veins of gold are formed by mineral deposition from hot fluids flowing through cracks deep in Earth’s crust. But a study published today in Nature Geoscience1 has found that the process can occur almost instantaneously — possibly within a few tenths of a second. The process takes place along 'fault jogs' — sideways zigzag cracks that connect the main fault lines in rock, says first author Dion Weatherley, a seismologist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. When an earthquake hits, the...

BUCHAREST, Romania — David defeated Goliath, again, last week in Romania’s capital city when an appeals court issued a final ruling in favor of a humble cathedral pitted against a gigantic steel office tower, concluding a seven-year legal and political struggle. In an unprecedented, definitive decision, the court ordered a 19-story skyscraper demolished and the land restored to its prior condition — a small, city park. Concurring with several lower court decisions, the judge concluded that the office tower, known as Cathedral Plaza, was illegally constructed without proper permits or authorizations in a brazen gesture that threatened the cathedral’s physical...

L'AQUILA, ITALY—Seven experts tasked with giving advice ahead of the deadly earthquake that struck here in 2009 have been found guilty of manslaughter by a judge in the central Italian town this evening. The four scientists, two engineers, and a government official were accused of having carried out a superficial analysis of seismic risk and of having provided false reassurances to the public ahead of the quake, which killed 309 people. The prosecution had requested prison terms of 4 years for the accused, but Judge Marco Billi has handed each a sentence of 6 years imprisonment. The lawyers of the...

An Italian court convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter on Monday for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck L'Aquila in central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. The court in L'Aquila sentenced the defendants to six years in prison. Each is a member of the country's Grand Commission on High Risks. … Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no reliable way to predict earthquakes.Among those convicted were some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts, including Enzo Boschi, former head of the country's Institute...

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — The pair of quakes that hit near Yorba Linda last night and Wednesday morning were detected by a new earthquake warning system that was showcased at Cal Tech. A 4.5-magnitude temblor struck one mile northeast from Yorba Linda at 11:23 p.m. Tuesday. Less than 10 hours later, a 4.5-magnitude quake struck two miles from the same location. “In the case of the first event last night, here in Pasadena, we got about nine seconds warning before the strongest shaking was felt here,” said Douglas Given from the U.S. Geological Survey. “In the case of the second quake,...

NEWPORT, Ore. – New Tsunami warnings from Japan on Thursday again reminded West coast residents that it was just a month ago when the devastating earthquake triggered massive waves here; while Tsunami experts at nearby Oregon State University point to the “Cascadia Subduction Zone” as a clear and present threat in the wake of these new aftershocks that are rattling Japan again and causing new Tsunami warnings in the Pacific. According to recent reports by scientists at nearby Oregon State University in Corvallis, this Cascadia Subduction zone “has just experienced a cluster of four massive earthquakes during the past 1,600...

First before-after image (Google and GeoEye / March 12, 2011) Google on Saturday released its first satellite images of Japan since the devastation that followed a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit the island nation Friday afternoon local time. The images, from Google partner GeoEye, were generated by the IKONOS satellite. Google Earth users may view images from Kamaishi, located to the north of Sendai, an area extremely hard hit by the quake and tsunami. In the images, taken Saturday morning, Kamaishi is somewhat obscured by cloud clover. In addition, Google released satellite images of Tokyo, also taken Saturday...

7.2 quake in Japan, analysis of current situation globally - March 9, 2011 Japan has legally mandated extensive preparedness for any kind of earthquakes. That this strong off-coast earthquake resulted in no casualty might be due to that. The country also has a unique seismic intensity scale called "Shindo" in addition to the magnitude scale. Magnitude is the released energy itself; intensity is the local effects of that energy. The recent M7+ earthquake most affected the northern part, where Shindo 5-lower was felt (the highest value being 7). The video shows swarms and successions of earthquakes on March 9 and...

When Mark Barrett moved to Guy, Arkansas, he had no idea the tiny town of less than 300 was nearly as rocking as the Southern California community he'd left behind. Six years and hundreds of seismic events later, Barrett says he's feeling it more and more. Since September, seismologists have recorded 700 temblors in the area. The largest in the current swarm, a 4.3-magnitude quake, shook the town at 2:13 a.m. Friday. The tremors appear to be rumbling through town with greater frequency. The Arkansas Geological Survey has recorded 50 quakes in and around Guy since Sunday. That includes Friday...

Israel conducted a massive controlled explosion to calibrate instruments at seismic monitoring stations worldwide, officials said. Using 100 tons of explosives, The Geophysical Institute of Israel conducted the explosion at a site in the Negev on Wednesday. It registered 2.7 on the Richter scale, and created a mushroom cloud that reached the height of up to 1.78 miles, or three kilometers, Haaretz reported Thursday. Local scientists and scientists from the U.S. and France as well as journalists observed the blast. Dr. Rami Hofstetter, head of seismology at the Geophysical Institute told the newspaper the experiment was important to study how...

As part of their battle to understand and protect against the destructive force of earthquakes, seismologists have gone to extraordinary lengths. They have bored holes deep into the earth's crust, laid out arrays of sensors hundreds of miles across, and built supercomputers capable of running simulations at teraflop speeds. But the most exciting new effort in cutting-edge seismology involves a piece of instrumentation that's a good deal less exotic. It's called an iPhone. "Each smartphone has an accelerometer built into it," says Robert W. Clayton, a professor of geology at Caltech. "It's primary function is to determine the orientation of...

In his days on the staid old London Times of the 1930s, Claud Cockburn won an in-house competition for the most boring headline by coming up with "Small Earthquake in Chile: Not Many Dead." ...snip... Seismology in this decade is already emerging as the most important new department of socioeconomics and politics. The simple recognition that nature is master and that the crust of our planet is highly volatile has been thrown into some relief by the staggering 250,000 butcher's bill exacted from the people of Haiti by a single terrestrial spasm, and by the relative survival capacity of Chileans...

The devastating magnitude 7.0 quake that ripped through Haiti Tuesday, reportedly killing thousands, did not catch everyone by surprise. In an interview last week for an unrelated story, Robert Yeats, a professor emeritus in geoscience at Oregon State University in Corvallis and co-author of a June 1989 article for Scientific American "Hidden Earthquakes," said that an imminent big west coast earthquake concerned him far less than a "big one" that might occur in Haiti, due to the large fault near the capital city of Port-au-Prince—and the poverty-driven low level of earthquake-preparedness there. "If they have an earthquake on this fault...

Seismic experiment gives best evidence yet for mantle plumes. Geologists have obtained the best image yet of a plume of hot rock that rises from Earth's deep mantle and fuels the volcanoes of the Hawaiian islands. The study, led by geophysicist Cecily Wolfe at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu, reveals the structure of the plume down to at least 1,500 kilometres. Critics have questioned in recent years whether such plumes even exist. "This is a spectacular experiment that succeeded in getting data for putting the plume theory to the test," says Wolfe. The results are published this...

When the Wenchuan earthquake killed some 80,000 people in southwest China in May of last year, suspicion immediately fell on the reservoir behind the nearby Zipingpu Dam. Seismologists knew that several hundred million tons of water had filled the reservoir in the preceding few years and that either the water itself or its weight might have weakened a nearby fault and unleashed the quake. A new analysis finds that both scenarios are plausible, but further insight will require the cooperation of the Chinese government. Last December, an American researcher was the first to prominently report (Science, 16 January, p. 322)...

Earthquake Details Magnitude 6.9 Date-Time Monday, August 03, 2009 at 17:59:59 UTCMonday, August 03, 2009 at 10:59:59 AM at epicenter Location 29.372°N, 112.814°W Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Region GULF OF CALIFORNIA Distances 122 km (76 miles) NNE (25°) from Santa Isabel, Baja California, Mexico142 km (88 miles) WNW (294°) from La Doce, Sonora, Mexico163 km (101 miles) SSW (203°) from Caborca, Sonora, Mexico182 km (113 miles) W (281°) from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico533 km (331 miles) SE (130°) from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7.2 km (4.5 miles); depth fixed by location program...

LOS ANGELES- Seismologists are warning Los Angeles-area residents to expect more aftershocks after a moderate earthquake shattered glass, rattled nerves and sent at least one person to the hospital. Sunday night's magnitude-4.7 quake was centered about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles and three miles east of Los Angeles International Airport, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was followed by at least five smaller aftershocks, with the largest registering at magnitude-3.1. USGS seismologist Susan Hough said there would likely be more aftershocks in the "threes, maybe a four," and there was a 5...

A nurse tries to comfort Liu Lu, an 11-year-old girl who survived Monday's powerful 7.9 magnitude quake after her school collapsed in Hanwang, as she cries in pain while receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Deyang, in Sichuan province, China, Thursday, May 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) BEIJING - First, the water level in a pond inexplicably plunged. Then, thousands of toads appeared on streets in a nearby province. Finally, just hours before China's worst earthquake in three decades, animals at a local zoo began acting strangely. ADVERTISEMENT As bodies are pulled from the wreckage of Monday's quake,...

I'm in Mission Viejo, CA, and it was one large jolt!

The powerful earthquake that hit Indonesia was just the latest display of violent seismic activity on the archipelago, which stretches across one of the most unstable parts of the Earth's surface. The country's position on the planet's crust means it will continue to experience such catastrophes, just as it has done for the past 50 million years or so, according to seismologists. "The problem with Indonesia is that you have an area of intense seismic activity coinciding with a very densely populated part of the world," said Gary Gibson, professor of seismology at the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. "It...

India said yesterday it would not share information on earthquakes below the magnitude of six on the Richter scale due to security concerns, drawing criticism from the United Nations. Indian seismologists at a UN tsunami conference said sharing seismic data had security implications as seabed terrain could be mapped, possibly helping others learn about the nation’s submarines and warships. And Indian seismologists said providing information on earthquakes below a magnitude of six was unnecessary in seeking to prevent a tsunami. “Only an earthquake with a magnitude of more than seven has the potential to generate a tsunami,” said G D...

HONG KONG (AP) - A 5.9-magnitude earthquake has struck China's Tibet region, Hong Kong seismologists said Thursday. The tremor was centered about 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of Lhasa and was recorded in Hong Kong at 4:11 a.m. Thursday (2011 GMT Wednesday), the Hong Kong government said in a statement. It wasn't clear if the quake led to any casualties or damage.

Earthquake Hazards Program: Northridge, California 1994 01 17 "The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program provides earthquake information for current and past earthquakes, hazards and preparedness information, and education resources for teachers and students." Latest Quakes   EQ Facts & Lists   Hazards & Preparedness   For Kids Only   Regional Websites   Science & Technology    HOME | ABOUT US | EQ GLOSSARY | FOR TEACHERS | PRODUCTS & SERVICES | DID YOU FEEL IT? | FAQ | SEARCH    EQ Facts & Lists Large Earthquakes in the United States Northridge, California 1994 01 17 12:30:55 UTC (local time: 4:30 a.m.)...

But Indonesia failed to heed him; Utah isn't listening either, he says PROVO — Brigham Young University geology professor Ron Harris has had trouble sleeping since the earthquake he predicted seven years ago killed an estimated 150,000 people along the rim of the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26. Research by Harris indicated an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 8.0 was due in the ocean west of Sumatra and would cause a devastating tsunami. He published the research in an Indonesian journal and pleaded with the government there to prepare, but little was done. "It might not have made...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Scientists are eagerly awaiting the return of a "slow earthquake" that could give them clues to when and where the next major quake will strike Pacific Coast of North America. The recently discovered phenomenon is believed to occur about every 14 months, which would put the next event anytime now, but people are unlikely to feel anything because it will occur 12 to 25 miles below the earth's surface. "We're all rushing in every morning and every night looking at the records to see if it has started," Garry Rogers, a seismologist with the Pacific...

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis have updated their expectations for earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The new forecasts estimate a 7 to 10 percent chance, in the next 50 years, of a repeat of a major earthquake like those that occurred in 1811-1812, which likely had magnitudes of between 7.5 and 8.0. There is a 25 to 40 percent chance, in a 50-year time span, of a magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquake. The earthquake probabilities in this region have changed considerably since the...