Plate Tectonics. Largest Earthquake Recorded - World's Biggest Earthquake. "The Great Chilean Earthquake" The World’s largest earthquake with an instrumentally documented magnitude occurred on May 22, 1960 near Valdivia, in southern Chile. It was assigned a magnitude of 9.5 by the United States Geological Survey. It is referred to as the "Great Chilean Earthquake" and the "1960 Valdivia Earthquake".
The United States Geological Survey reports this event as the "largest earthquake of the 20th Century". Other earthquakes in recorded history may have been larger, however this is the largest earthquake that has occurred since accurate estimates of magnitude became possible in the earnly 1900's. Local Damage from Ground Motion and Tsunamis The earthquake occurred beneath the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile. Most of the damage and deaths were caused by a series of tsunamis that were generated by the earthquake. There are many different casualty estimates for this earthquake. Tsunami Damage Subsidence and Uplift Tectonics Foreshocks Damage in Hawaii Damage in California. Welcome to the USGS - U.S. Geological Survey.
Seismic Activity and U.S. Nuclear Facilities. SOURCE: Science Progress, click here for high res version.The Map above depicts the locations of U.S. nuclear power facilities in gray, and locations of seismic activity in yellow. Data from the USGS and the International Nuclear Safety Center. Following the devastation of last week’s 9.0 scale earthquake and tsunami, Japanese citizens face new realities and threats stemming from damage to nuclear power plant facilities. The quake damaged five nuclear reactors, three of which are facing potential meltdowns due to coolant loss. The human and environmental cost of such an event could be cataclysmic. This catastrophe in Japan should serve as a lesson to the United States as well as Japan, argued Joe Romm, editor of Climate Progress, and CAPAF policy analyst Richard Caperton in this CNN article today.
The featured map illustrates just how vulnerable we could be: many of the United States’s 104 nuclear facilities are located near areas of seismic activity. Tags: Energy, nuclear. ISDR: Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning. Compared to other natural hazards (tropical storms, floods, droughts, etc.) destructive tsunamis occur relatively rare. But the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean dramatically showed what could happen if a tsunami waves triggered by a major earthquake reaches coastal areas without any early warning.
The highly energetic tsunami waves struck the costal areas devastating everything on their path. The costal population lost everything, most of the poorly built houses could not stand the massive flood or they were destroyed by flooding material. As floods reached in some areas several kilometers inland wide districts are affected by salinity. Crops, soil and wells for drinking water are contaminated with salt water; it will take years until they could be used again. What is a tsunami? How tsunamis behave as they approach land The speed of the tsunami is related to the depth of the water. What is a Tsunami Early Warning System? Tsunami Laboratory, Novosibirsk, Russia. Geology.com - Earth Science News, Maps, Dictionary, Articles, Jobs.