Mathematics and computer modeling help scientists tell natural earthquakes from nuclear tests.
seismology
Posted inEditors' Highlights
How Earthquakes Grow from a Tiny Fracture to a Catastrophic Event
State-of-art numerical simulations illustrate how a small-scale shear instability can become a giant earthquake in a manner that is consistent with seismological observation.
Posted inScience Updates
Submarine Avalanche Deposits Hold Clues to Past Earthquakes
Scientists are making progress on illuminating how undersea sedimentary deposits called turbidites form and on reconstructing the complex histories they record. But it’s not an easy task.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Strong Pacific Plate Bends Under the Hawaiian Volcanic Chain
Two seismic studies reveal the volcanic loads and resulting flexure of the Pacific plate at the Hawaiian Ridge and, surprisingly, show no magmatic underplating.
Posted inNews
The United States Has an Updated Map of Earthquake Hazards
The new National Seismic Hazard Model shows where damaging earthquakes are likely to occur, informing public safety and infrastructure policies.
Posted inEditors' Vox
The Not-So-Silent Depths
A new book reveals that ocean depths are far from silent voids, but are actually alive with noise.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Scientists Model What’s Moving Beneath Earth’s Surface
A 3D printed model of a fault served as the setting for a hydrofracturing experiment exploring the mechanisms behind slow earthquakes.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Do Some Cratons Have Soggy Bottoms?
Long-persistent stable cratons bear much of the deep-time geologic record, and a new study combines seismic and petrological data to reveal how interactions with mantle fluids can shape their evolution.
Posted inNews
Costa Rican Faults Quiver in Response to Distant Earthquakes
Scientists found flurries of seismic activity within weak fault zones in Costa Rica after two giant ruptures elsewhere.
Posted inNews
Thunderquakes Map the Subsurface
Researchers have figured out how rumbling thunder turns to seismic waves and how this shaking could be used to reveal subsurface geology.