Worldwide Earthquake Activity in the Last Seven Days -- Just Prior to 9.0 and until Dec 30

USGS Earthquake Program ^ | Dec 30, 2004

[topher]

The point of this is to take a snapshot of activity from 12-24-04 to 12-30-04. It shows the number of quakes in this area and worldwide activity. The activity in the rest of the world pales by comparison even today. Below are the quake list with [number of quakes] followed by [magnitude].

Data on this webpage will change over time.

This is a sliding window, so we will loose the data before the time of the earthquake if not posted.

Summary of quakes in 9.0 area:

12-30-04 -> five 5+ earthquakes and one 4.9 earthquake

12-29-04 -> two 6+ earthquakes and three 5+ earthquakes

12-28-04 -> twelve 5+ earthquakes and three 4+ earthquakes

12-27-04 -> two 6+, twenty 5+, nine 4+ earthquakes

12-26-04 -> one 9.0, one 7.1, six 6+, and twenty-five 5+ earthquakes

12-25-04 -> one 4.7 in Halmahera, Indonesia

12-24-04 -> one 4.5 in Java, Indonesia

Note that there is a revision here -- the 7.1 in the quake area on December 26, 2004 was once listed as 7.5 quake.

[Barte45]

Doesn't the world experience a ton of seismic activity during the course of a day? And isn't most of it not even noticeable, even 4 and 5.0?

[Strategerist]

Really big quakes have big aftershocks.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Not to ask a dumb question, but can the aftershocks (in the Sumatra area) cause subsequent tsunami(s)?

[Strategerist]

Not to ask a dumb question, but can the aftershocks (in the Sumatra area) cause subsequent tsunami(s)?

Any that would be damaging would be pretty unlikely.

[topher]

If you look at what USGS is posting, they are posting 3+ magnitude quakes in California during this period.

But the Indonesia/India [Islands] are dominating the list.

This is the data USGS is presenting, not me.

Just look at Dec 24 and Dec 25, and then look at Dec 30 in the list -- Indonesia/India barely register on the 24th and 25th, but they dominate on the Dec 30 in number and size.

There are still a number of major aftershocks [6+ and 5+ magnitude quakes daily in the area of the 9.0].

[topher]

Really big quakes have big aftershocks.

Agreed. One point of my posting seems to show it to start to taper off -- which I hope it continues to do.

[b4its2late]

I wonder if we'll see a new volcano or island chain formed in that region?

[Ginifer]

I read a newspaper article today from Russia that said a Russian seismologist said the next big earthquake would be in the South American region according to his calculations.

Interesting post seeing all the activity before and after.

http://www.hwn.org/home/atlantic.html
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww

and if your interested in volcano activity:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/current_volcs/current.html

[topher]

I wonder if we'll see a new volcano or island chain formed in that region?

Speculation is not my goal -- just crunching data. On Dec 23 there was a major earthquake event that is now already forgotten.

At that time, people were concerned about the poor penquins losing some ice falling into the ocean.

That was because of an 8.1 in the New Zealand area.

Now, for some reason, people are not worried about the penguins in that area...

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

It almost looks like the two Indonesian quakes on the 24th and 25th were prequakes. But they could also be a shift in other faults that caused the pressure to cause that 9.0.

[BoBToMatoE]

I wonder if the Saint Helens action resulted from any of this ring of fire action.

[Cold Heart]

I like to look at the map of North West (US) earthquakes on a daily basis. It's almost like hunting, trying to get a red one (within two hours). I find the history patterns (two weeks)interesting. Couple years ago I saw a different pattern that caught my eye. Ended up with that big one in puget sound. I have often wondered if anyone at the universities is following these histories and recognizing any patterns.

[topher]

Interesting post seeing all the activity before and after.

I am just posting the earthquake activity before and after. They are just numbers.

If someone in research wants the data, it is there for them. For someone who is untrained, like myself, I will not even speculate.

[topher]

It almost looks like the two Indonesian quakes on the 24th and 25th were prequakes. But they could also be a shift in other faults that caused the pressure to cause that 9.0.

I actually believe the exact opposite -- those quakes were too small. If our government believed that, then people in California would daily think there might be the big one.

There were very small earthquakes. And they were not as close [by distance] as these aftershocks to the big one.

You can not say there will be a 9.0 earthquake because of a 4.x and a 4.y earthquake on two different days.

Krakatoa in 1883 was much more predictable because it was a volcano, and there were observations of significant activity.

[topher]

It almost looks like the two Indonesian quakes on the 24th and 25th were prequakes. But they could also be a shift in other faults that caused the pressure to cause that 9.0.

The major quakes for 2004 can be found at:

Significant Earthquakes in 2004

From this site, you will that there was a fairly big earthquake in Indonesia on November 11 -- but that is not out of the ordinary. That is why the small quakes would not be an indicator -- necessarily.

November 11 -- Kepulauan Alor, Indonesia -- 7.5M

[Quix]

THANKS MUCH.

Have long wanted to print out my listing of such in my email program but can't figure out how to print the listing of emails by subject line etc. such as you've done.

[Tigen]

http://aslwww.cr.usgs.gov/Seismic_Data/heli2.shtml
Todays incoming is very quiet compared to the last weeks data.
All of these windows were almost black a week ago!

[Elvis van Foster]

They've determined the cause on DU: oil companies drilling and secret nuclear tests that avoid seismic detection.

I kid you not.

[combat_boots]

Wasn't there something about a meteorite? And Antarctica, too? Something is going on. I do, however, wonder about the other side of the Pacific, a counterbalance. I was thinking Alaska, but maybe this is a Southern Hemisphere event.