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Quake rattled Earth orbit, changed map of Asia: US geophysicist
Yahoo News ^ | December 28, 2004

Posted on 12/28/2004 6:31:15 AM PST by NYer

An earthquake that unleashed deadly tidal waves on Asia was so powerful it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map, US geophysicists said.

The 9.0-magnitude temblor that struck 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Sumatra island Sunday may have moved small islands as much as 20 meters (66 feet), according to one expert.

"That earthquake has changed the map," US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut told AFP.

"Based on seismic modeling, some of the smaller islands off the southwest coast of Sumatra may have moved to the southwest by about 20 meters. That is a lot of slip."

The northwestern tip of the Indonesian territory of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by around 36 meters (120 feet), Hudnut said.

In addition, the energy released as the two sides of the undersea fault slipped against each other made the Earth wobble on its axis, Hudnut said.

"We can detect very slight motions of the Earth and I would expect that the Earth wobbled in its orbit when the earthquake occurred due the massive amount of energy exerted and the sudden shift in mass," Hudnut said.

Another USGS research geophysicist agreed that the Earth would have got a "little jog," and that the islands off Sumatra would have been moved by the quake.

However, Stuart Sipkin, of the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden Colorado, said it was more likely that the islands off Sumatra had risen higher out of the sea than they had moved laterally.

"In in this case, the Indian plate dived below the Burma plate, causing uplift, so most of the motion to the islands would have been vertical, not horizontal."

The tsunamis unleashed by the fourth-biggest earthquake in a century have left at least 23,675 people dead in eight countries across Asia and as far as Somalia in East Africa.

The tsunamis wiped out entire coastal villages and pulled beach-goers out to sea.

The International Red Cross estimated that up to one million people have been displaced by the natural calamity.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: sumatraquake

1 posted on 12/28/2004 6:31:15 AM PST by NYer
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To: NYer

20 meters isn't going to make so much difference on my 10" globe that I'll have to buy a new one.


2 posted on 12/28/2004 6:34:28 AM PST by mtbopfuyn
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To: NYer

A quick glance at a topographical map of the ocean ridges discloses a huge gash running N/S to the west of Sumatra.

The question is: why has the Indian Ocean/Bay of Bengal not been studied by geophysicists in greater detail?


3 posted on 12/28/2004 6:36:14 AM PST by highflight (from a distance - buzzards might appear as eagles.)
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To: NYer

Bush did it.


4 posted on 12/28/2004 6:36:28 AM PST by Clint Lippo
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To: NYer

TOBA .... TOBA .... TOBA .... and no I don't mean Animal House ....


5 posted on 12/28/2004 6:43:00 AM PST by Yasotay
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To: NYer
I guess this means we'll have to give up our SUV's and sign Kyoto. Something must be done. If people did not live on this planet and prosper, the Quake never would have occurred.
6 posted on 12/28/2004 6:45:24 AM PST by hushpad
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To: NYer

Earlier this season, CSI Miami had an episode where something similar happened. Of course Miami had been evacuated.


7 posted on 12/28/2004 6:49:45 AM PST by Jaded (Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. - Mark Twain)
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To: Clint Lippo
Another USGS research geophysicist agreed that the Earth would have got a "little jog," and that the islands off Sumatra would have been moved by the quake.

Drunks in the local bars in Sumatra were said to be completely unaffected by this so-called 'wobble'.
8 posted on 12/28/2004 6:51:20 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Oh yeah - and F the french too!)
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To: hushpad

This really chaps me. Earthquakes are about geology, not climatology. But the treehuggers will claim such geological events and their consequences are part of "global warming". They lie for their own deceitful purposes and a gullible and fearful public will buy it.


9 posted on 12/28/2004 6:52:11 AM PST by twntaipan (France is NOT a US ally. Chirac is an enemy of freedom loving people, but a hero to liberals.)
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To: twntaipan

I wonder how they will feel about the "erosion." Dam that mother nature.


10 posted on 12/28/2004 7:03:20 AM PST by corlorde (Without the home of the brave, there would be no land of the free)
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To: twntaipan
treehuggers will claim such geological events and their consequences are part of "global warming".

Reuters is already implying that global warming exacerbates the effects of tsunamis. It is actually a very artful exercise. Between fairly dry quotes from scientists, the reporter injects his own opinions, and to the unobservant they acquire the cachet and status of "Science".

Since most people are incapable of pointing to evidence in their everyday experience that indicates that the world is round or the earth circles the sun, for most people what purports to be "Science" is simply a matter of faith. The scientific priesthood pronounces and we believe. Only a person of very poor character doubts the certitude of Official Science as revealed in the texts of Big Media.

Of course, as Micheal Crichton so ably points out, science has nothing to do with consensus and everything to do with skepticism and inquiry.

11 posted on 12/28/2004 7:08:26 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Deadcheck the embeds first.)
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To: highflight
The question is: why has the Indian Ocean/Bay of Bengal not been studied by geophysicists in greater detail?

What makes you think that they haven't?

12 posted on 12/28/2004 7:14:28 AM PST by The Coopster
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To: twntaipan
But the treehuggers will claim such geological events and their consequences are part of "global warming". They lie for their own deceitful purposes<<<

I would almost place a large bet on when the enviro-wackos will blame mankind (ie, the USA) for this! If they didn't mislead so many of the brain-washed public, I'd also think it was funny.
13 posted on 12/28/2004 7:40:04 AM PST by hushpad
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To: mtbopfuyn
20 meters isn't going to make so much difference on my 10" globe that I'll have to buy a new one.

Yeah, but if your piece of property in Sumatra is described in Lat/Long, you now own your neighbor's property and someone else owns yours.

14 posted on 12/28/2004 7:45:28 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: Dog Gone

I suspect Sumatra is one of those places where property rights don't really exist anyway.


15 posted on 12/28/2004 7:48:02 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

There you go, introducing reality in order to wreck my point...


16 posted on 12/28/2004 7:51:08 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: The Coopster

my comment was based on having watched "geophysicist experts" being interviewed by news reporters. They didn't seem to know of any trenches other than the Mariana and saw no need for any tsunami warning systems for coast lines other than the West Coast (Pacific).

The East Coast has a 2,000 mile long trench that is subducting, in addition to the Puerto Rican trench.


17 posted on 12/28/2004 8:11:24 AM PST by highflight (from a distance - buzzards might appear as eagles.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

I finished Crichton's book over the past weekend. It's a great book, and paints the picture clearly. Rush Limbaugh could have written it!


18 posted on 12/28/2004 8:50:34 AM PST by twntaipan (France is NOT a US ally. Chirac is an enemy of freedom loving people, but a hero to liberals.)
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To: twntaipan

mark for later read


19 posted on 12/28/2004 9:00:53 AM PST by Ben Chad
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To: reagan_fanatic
Drunks in the local bars in Sumatra were said to be completely unaffected by this so-called 'wobble'.

And the Weebles still wobbled, but they didn't fall down.

20 posted on 12/28/2004 9:02:07 AM PST by dfwgator (It's sad that the news media treats Michael Jackson better than our military.)
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