Earthquakes, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 6, 2018

Long-Lost Footage of 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Discovered at Flea Market

In the dawn hours of April 18, 1906, a sudden shock rattled San Francisco. Half a minute later, one of the largest quakes in California history pummeled the sleeping city awake. Modern geologists estimate that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake measured somewhere between magnitude 7.7 and 8.3. The shock waves...

Apr 5, 2018

A 5.3-Magnitude Earthquake Just Struck Southern California

An earthquake of preliminary magnitude 5.3 struck 38 miles (61 kilometers) off the coast of California Thursday afternoon (April 5), rattling Los Angeles. That's a moderate quake in the grand scheme of things, and common enough in the region of the San Andreas fault, where LA sits. But the event...

Apr 5, 2018

How Did an App Know an Earthquake Was Hitting California Before It Happened?

Some people in Los Angeles knew about today's earthquake before it even hit. Those who had the beta Quake Alert application on their smartphones got about a 30-second warning before the shaking hit at 12:29 p.m. PDT (19:29 UTC). The magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck about 38 miles (61 kilometers) off the...

Apr 7, 2018

Watch These Adorable Baby Eagles Weather the Southern California Earthquake

The magnitude-5.3 earthquake that shook Southern California Thursday (April 5) barely rattled one local family: a nest of bald eagles on Santa Cruz Island. The epicenter of the quake was just south of the island, which is part of Channel Islands National Park off the coast, near Ventura. According to...

Apr 25, 2018

Oklahoma Suffers Its 2,724th Earthquake Since 2010

A cluster of earthquakes in Oklahoma earlier this month helped push the state to 62 temblors this year alone of magnitude 3.0 or more — and 2,724 of that magnitude or more since 2010. This year is on track for a huge decline from the peak of Oklahoma's restlessness in...

Apr 30, 2018

Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?

The moment the ground stops shaking after an earthquake, some people may wonder whether their pets — or wild animals for that matter — knew the disaster was coming. In other words, can animals predict earthquakes? According to a new analysis of several other published studies (called a meta-analysis), it's...

May 3, 2018

Do Hundreds of Earthquakes in Hawaii Mean Kilauea Could Blow?

More than 600 earthquakes have rattled Hawaii's Big Island since Monday as red-hot magma from the Kilauea volcano roils underground, moving underneath residential areas, a region where magma hasn't historically traveled, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). What this wayward magma will do is anyone's guess. That's the million-dollar...

May 15, 2018

Is It Possible to Predict Earthquakes?

Northern California's Hayward Fault is often called the most dangerous fault in America: It's the country's most urbanized fault, meaning an earthquake there has the potential to cause significant destruction, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Geologists say earthquakes happen there about every 160 years, and the last big quake on...

May 21, 2018

The Next Cascadian Megaquake May Be Sooner Than You Think

Devastating Cascadia megaquakes may rock the Pacific Northwest more frequently than previously suspected. A new effort to systematically analyze geologic evidence, such as rocks and soil dumped into the ocean by ancient and powerful quakes, hints that the time between massive earthquakes may be up to 200 years shorter than...

Jun 5, 2018

Scientists Find Dozens of Hidden Earthquakes Buried Under Antarctica's Ice

Hundreds of hidden earthquakes may be buried beneath Antarctica's ice, new research suggests. To prove that, nearly a decade ago, a team of scientists spent months flying around East Antarctica. Their results have finally been published, and they contradict an older established geologic hypothesis. [50 Amazing Facts About Antarctica] Researchers...

Jun 18, 2018

Jumping Soccer Fans Created a Small Earthquake in Mexico

Editor's Note: Seismologists have now said the World Cup celebrations did not create an earthquake. Read more about the update here. Seismologists in Mexico City have confirmed that soccer fans are literally a force of nature. Around 10:35 a.m. local time Sunday (June 17), two seismic sensors in Mexico's capital...

Jun 20, 2018

There's No Way World Cup Soccer Fans Caused an Earthquake in Mexico, Seismic Expert Says

Reports that ebullient soccer fans triggered a man-made earthquake in Mexico City on Sunday (June 17) may be nothing but sound and fury, one seismic expert has said. On Sunday morning, the Mexican men's national soccer team scored a game-winning goal against the defending World Cup champions, Germany. Minutes later,...

Jun 22, 2018

Summer Could Trigger Major Earthquakes (It's Not Why You Think)

On Aug. 24, 2014, an earthquake ripped through Northern California's Napa-Sonoma Valley. It was the largest in the San Francisco Bay Area in 25 years, leaving two dead and hundreds injured and causing damage that cost half a billion dollars. When Meredith Kraner, a geophysicist from the University of Nevada,...

Jul 13, 2018

Earthquake in Mexico Cracked a Pyramid and Revealed an Ancient Temple

Earthquakes are known for their destructive power, but a recent quake in Mexico had a surprisingly positive outcome for archaeologists — it revealed a hidden temple that had gone undetected for hundreds of years, concealed inside a pyramid. On Sept. 19, 2017, a magnitude-7.1 earthquake rocked central Mexico, following an...

Aug 6, 2018

What Caused Massive Magnitude-7 Indonesian Earthquake?

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck right along the coast of the Indonesian island of Lombok, near Loloan village Sunday night local time (Aug. 5), according to Indonesian authorities. At least 91 people are reported dead from the quake, with shaking felt as far away as the island of Bali, the Associated...