Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have successfully isolated a pattern of lab-made ‘foreshock’ tremors. The finding offers hope that future earthquakes could be forecast by the swarm of smaller tremors that come before them. The research was published in the journal Nature Communications. The next step is to replicate the results in… Continue Reading Scientists Isolate Early-Warning Tremor Pattern in Lab-Made Earthquakes
Discovery of Massive Undersea Water Reservoir Could Explain New Zealand’s Mysterious Slow Earthquakes
Researchers have discovered a sea’s worth of water locked within the sediment and rock of a lost volcanic plateau that’s now deep in the Earth’s crust. Revealed by a 3D seismic image, the water lies two miles under the ocean floor off the coast of New Zealand, where it may be dampening a major earthquake… Continue Reading Discovery of Massive Undersea Water Reservoir Could Explain New Zealand’s Mysterious Slow Earthquakes
Earthquake Scientists Have a New Tool in the Race to Find the Next Big One
An everyday quirk of physics could be an important missing piece in scientists’ efforts to predict the world’s most powerful earthquakes. In a study published in the journal Science, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin discovered that a frictional phenomenon could be key to understanding when and how violently faults move. That’s because… Continue Reading Earthquake Scientists Have a New Tool in the Race to Find the Next Big One
In Search of the Next Big One
Subduction zones are the source of the world’s most dangerous earthquakes and tsunamis. UTIG’s researchers are on a mission to understand them By Constantino Panagopulos On Jan. 26, 1700, a barrage of tsunamis ripped across the Pacific Ocean at the speed of a jet liner. The 100-foot waves slammed into the northwest coast of America… Continue Reading In Search of the Next Big One
Making Quakes in Austin, Texas
Newly Constructed Earthquake Machine Makes Earthquake on First Test By Kristin Phillips After months spent carefully combining black steel plates, delicate sensors, and five hydraulic jacks into a device that mimics the sliding of tectonic plates past each other, a team of researchers and graduate students successfully made an earthquake in the lab on November… Continue Reading Making Quakes in Austin, Texas