Earthquakes, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 2, 2022

Mountain-sized chunk of rock hiding under Japan is channeling earthquakes

An underground mountain-sized chunk of rock may be affecting paths of large earthquakes in southern Japan. The dense igneous rock, known as the Kumano pluton, is lurking about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) below the surface beneath Japan's Kii Peninsula. It sits in the crust of the continental Eurasian plate. Under...

Mar 15, 2022

San Andreas Fault's creeping section could unleash large earthquakes

The middle section of the San Andreas Fault may have the capacity to host larger earthquakes than previously believed. Between the towns of Parkfield and Hollister, the famous California fault undergoes something called aseismic creep. Instead of building up strain and then slipping in one earth-rattling moment, the two sections...

Apr 27, 2022

Underwater volcano in Antarctica triggers 85,000 earthquakes

A long-dormant underwater volcano near Antarctica has woken up, triggering a swarm of 85,000 earthquakes. The swarm, which began in August 2020 and subsided by November of that year, is the strongest earthquake activity ever recorded in the region. And the quakes were likely caused by a finger of hot...

Jun 22, 2022

Magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits Afghanistan, killing at least 1,000

A powerful earthquake rattled eastern Afghanistan in the early hours of Wednesday morning (June 22), killing at least 1,000 people and wounding hundreds more, although casualty numbers are expected to rise. State-level disaster management officials reported at least 600 injured, while local officials put the count closer to 1,500, according...

Sep 15, 2022

Seismic Speed Bumps Found in Chile's Earthquake Zone

Two blobs of dense rock jammed deep beneath Chile's coastline acted like seismic speed bumps during the magnitude-8.8 Maule earthquake in 2010, according to a new study. Some of the world's largest earthquakes occur in Chile. The country sits above a subduction zone, where the Nazca tectonic plate dives down...

Sep 26, 2022

Scientists find evidence for biggest earthquake in human history

Archaeologists have found evidence of the largest known earthquake in human history — a terrifying magnitude-9.5 megaquake that caused a 5,000-mile-long (8,000 kilometers) tsunami and prompted human populations to abandon nearby coastlines for 1,000 years, a new study finds. The earthquake struck about 3,800 years ago in what is now...

Oct 13, 2022

Dino-killing asteroid triggered 'mega-earthquake' that rocked the planet for months

The massive asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs also triggered mega-earthquakes that lasted months. Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid approximately 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) across smashed into Earth near the Yucatan Peninsula, plunging the planet into darkness and causing a mass extinction that wiped out 80% of animal...

Jan 27, 2023

The 20 largest recorded earthquakes in history

As the world's tectonic plates crash, grind and dive into one another, they release their pent-up energy in giant earthquakes that can rock the ground, trigger volcanic eruptions, move mountains and unleash tsunamis. And since scientists figured out how to measure earthquake magnitude in the early 1900s, some truly massive...

Jan 30, 2023

How big is the largest possible earthquake?

On May 22, 1960, a devastating earthquake hit southern Chile. For 10 minutes, the ground shook so violently that people were unable to stay on their feet. Cracks opened in roads, and buildings collapsed. One man, quoted in a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report about surviving the quake and its...

Feb 8, 2023

Why was the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria so deadly?

More than 12,000 people were killed and tens of thousands left injured and homeless following a devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria on Monday (Feb. 6). The magnitude 7.8 earthquake — caused by a 60-mile (100 kilometers) rupture between the Anatolian and Arabian tectonic plates — struck at its epicenter...

Feb 24, 2023

450-mile-wide solid metal ball forms Earth's innermost core, earthquake waves reveal

Scientists have harnessed powerful waves from earthquakes to measure Earth's innermost layer and found that our planet's center is a 450-mile-wide (725 kilometers) ball of solid iron-nickel alloy. Previously, many researchers believed that Earth had four distinct layers — the crust, the mantle, a liquid outer core and a solid...

Jul 27, 2023

Predicting earthquakes is currently impossible. GPS data could help change that

Currently, it is impossible to accurately predict when and where an earthquake might strike. But scientists now believe that Global Positioning System (GPS) data could help spot early warning signs two hours before a big quake strikes. Earthquakes occur when the slabs of slow-moving rocks just under Earth's surface —...

Aug 1, 2023

Deadly swarm of earthquakes in Japan caused by magma moving through extinct volcano

A huge swarm of earthquakes that has been rocking Japan for three years appears to be the result of fluids moving through an extinct, collapsed volcano, new research suggests. The swarm is happening on the Noto Peninsula by the Sea of Japan, on the north coast of the country. There...

Sep 11, 2023

Here's why Morocco's quake was so deadly — and what we can do for the next one

More than 2,500 people died when a powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Morocco on Sept. 8. The epicenter was in the High Atlas Mountains, 44 miles (71 kilometers) south-west of Marrakesh. Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked José A. Peláez, a professor in geophysics who has carried out research...

Sep 27, 2023

Simultaneous rupture of faults triggered massive earthquake in Seattle area 1,100 years ago — and it could happen again

The Seattle region may have been hit with a massive, magnitude 7.8 earthquake 1,100 years ago after a series of hidden faults ruptured simultaneously, a new study suggests. That is much more powerful than current warnings suggest is possible from the same fault zones. Researchers have known for a long...