International ocean drilling expedition [on] causes of the Indian Ocean 2004 earthquake/tsunami

Science Daily ^ | 8/8/2016 | University of Southampton

[JimSEA]

The devastating earthquake that struck North Sumatra and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Boxing Day (26 December) in 2004 caused a tsunami that inundated coastal communities around the Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people in 14 countries. That earthquake was caused by a slip on a subduction zone plate boundary fault beneath the eastern Indian Ocean.

Now, over the coming weeks, a team of international researchers are returning to offshore Sumatra to collect marine sediments, rocks and fluids from this particular zone for the first time to gain a better understanding of the materials and to collect data for predicting how they behave in fault zones to generate large earthquakes.

Throughout August and September the researchers, including experts from Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton will spend two months on board the drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution as part of the International Ocean Discovery Programme (IODP). The Expedition, number 362 of the IODP, involves 33 scientists and two educators from 13 countries including Professors Lisa McNeill and Tim Henstock from the University of Southampton. Professor McNeill is one of the Expedition leaders along with Associate Professor Brandon Dugan of the Colorado School of Mines and Dr Katerina Petronotis of the IODP.

[JimSEA]

"The Boxing Day earthquake of 2004 and the Japan Tohoku-oki earthquake in 2011 both ruptured to much shallower depths than expected, producing very large earthquakes and tsunami, and prompting a re-evaluation of earthquake slip potential and of the properties of shallow subduction faults," Professor McNeill continued. "Subsequent large magnitude earthquakes have struck this margin since 2004, including unusually large earthquakes in the Indian plate offshore North Sumatra in 2012. Therefore developing a better understanding of earthquake and tsunami behavior and potential is a priority for local communities, for the wider Indian Ocean, and for related subduction zones."

Living 100 plus miles from the Cascadia fault(s), I'm very interested in the seemingly hit and miss history of major subduction earthquakes.

[sagar]

How much of US taxpayers’ money is used to benefit these research on foreign quakes?

[ClearCase_guy]

Probably caused by fracking in Pennsylvania.

[JimSEA]

Do you think, just maybe, the results of this drilling will be applicable elsewhere than the Indian Ocean? This is a well documented occurance along a subduction zone fault. We know the result of the earthquakes along this fault system and where a tsunami was the result and where only minor waves were generated.

We don’t have a similar record in the Pacific Nortwest. Soon, however, we will be able to compare the drill cores from this project with some we can or have drilled off the Northwest Coast in Oregon, Washington, B. C..

[sagar]

Cascadia quake will be one scary event. Actually, quake should only kill a few hundreds. But the tsunami will hit within 15 mins and may kill hundreds of thousands.

[JimSEA]

Yes. It’s certainly an immediate concern as it could happen tomarrow or 400 years from now. All the signs we currently understand say it’s about due and if it’s like the one the Japanese recorded in 1700, a lot of us won’t survive it.

[Vermont Lt]

Boy, I misread that headline. I thought it said the drilling was the cause. Need more coffee.

[JimSEA]

You deserve my apology for my rotten job of shortening a headline without losing meaning. I can certainly see what lead you astray!