February 27, 2010 (06:34:17 UTC)
Magnitude 8.8 Offshore Maule, Chile
This earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates are converging at a rate of 80 mm per year. The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the Nazca plate moving down and landward below the South American plate. Coastal Chile has a history of very large earthquakes. Since 1973, there have been 13 events of magnitude 7.0 or greater.
Teachable Moment Presentation
updated 28 Feb17 Slide Teachable Moment Powerpoint (zipped 12.6MB)
Using a Mac, the animation on slide 13 is not automated. It can be found on the Earthquake Research Institute, Tokyo site.
University of Portland/IRIS Earthquake Notice (pdf)
PDF of Teachable Moment Powerpoint (2.1MB)
The animation on slide 13 can be found on the Earthquake Research Institute, Tokyo site.
Animations and Visualizations
Seismic Wave Propagation (Youtube / Quicktime)
USArray Ground Motion Visualization (MPEG-4 Movie (36.3MB), Youtube)
En Español
Presentación en Español (12.6MB)
Usando un Mac, la animación en la diapositiva 13 no es automatizada. La animación puede ser encontrada en la página web del Instituto de Investigación de Terremoto de Tokio
PDF de la Presentación Momentos de Enseñanza (2.1MB)
La animación puede ser encontrada en la diapositiva 13 en la página web del Instituto de Investigación de Terremoto de Tokio
Universidad de Portland/IRIS Notificación de Terremoto (pdf)
Propagación de Ondas Sísmicas (Youtube / Animación Quicktime)
USGS Resources
USGS Earthquake Hazards Program
USGS Earthquake Summary Poster
Subduction Zone Geometry Analysis- Preliminary SZGC Results NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE, Gavin Hayes, NEIC
Additional Chile Earthquake Resources
added 4 Mar Vertical displacement seismograms (6.1 MB) from 407 USArray Transportable Array stations, filtered from 5-120 seconds, compiled by Rick Aster, New Mexico Tech
added 3 Mar MCEER: Chile Earthquake 2010: Facts, Engineering, News & Maps
added 2 Mar NYTimes.com: Dot Earth: Chilean Quake a Warning to U.S. Northwest
added 2 Mar Interview Video and Transcript of Roger Bilham on Democracy Now
Source Characteristics of Historic Earthquakes along the Central Chile Subduction Zone
Explore the aftershock sequence using the IRIS Earthquake Browser
UNAVCO Aftershock Pictorial Updates
February 26, 2010 (20:31:26 UTC)
Magnitude 7.0 Ryukyu Islands, Japan
The Ryukyu Islands earthquake of February 26, 2010, occurred near the boundary that accommodates most of the relative motion between the Philippine Sea and Eurasia tectonic plates. In the region of the earthquake, the Philippine Sea plate moves WNW with respect to the interior of the Eurasia plate, with a relative velocity of approximately 60 mm/yr. The Philippine Sea plate subducts beneath the Eurasia plate at the Ryukyu Trench and is seismically active to depths of about 250 km. The initial estimates of the earthquake's epicenter, focal-depth, and focal-mechanism imply that the shock occurred as an intraplate event either within the subducting Philippine Sea Plate, or within the overlying Eurasia plate, rather than on the thrust-fault plate interface that separates the two, but preliminarily data do not clearly discriminate between these two possibilities. (USGS NEIC)
Teachable Moment Presentation
February 4, 2010 (20:20:21 UTC)
Magnitude 5.9 Offshore Northern California
This earthquake occurred north of the Mendocino Transform Fault, inside the Gorda plate, which is deforming as the Gorda Plate and Pacific plate slide past each other. The fault motion during the earthquake was strike-slip (side-by-side like the San Andreas Fault) with the Gorda Plate moving east and while the Pacific plate jumped west along the Mendocino Transform Fault.
Teachable Moment Presentation
En Español
January 12, 2010 (21:53:10 UTC)
Magnitude 7.0 Haiti
A major earthquake occurred Tuesday in the boundary region separating the Caribbean plate and the North America plate. This plate boundary is dominated by left-lateral strike slip motion and compression, and accommodates about 20 mm/y slip, with the Caribbean plate moving eastward with respect to the North America plate.
Teachable Moment Presentations
- 12 slide Teachable Moment Powerpoint (zipped, includes animation)
Set of slides created in the first hours after the earthquake with information to use in middle school, high school or college classes. - University of Portland/IRIS Earthquake Notice (pdf)
- Converted Teachable Moment Powerpoint (pdf)
- updated 20 Jan Follow up: Building Damage in Earthquakes (pdf)
Animations and Visualizations
- Seismic Wave Propagation (Youtube / Quicktime)
- Why didn't the magnitude 7 earthquake in Haiti cause a large tsunami? (Youtube / Quicktime)
- USArray Wave Visualization Globe (Youtube / Quicktime 15MB)
-watch seismic waves from the Haiti earthquake as they cross the USArray's seismometer deployment. Blue circles indicate a seismometer moving down; red circles indicate a seismometer moving up.
Click here to learn more. - Six Month Seismic Monitor Central America Earthquake Activity Map (Youtube / Quicktime 6.7MB)
- updated 20 Jan Seismic Monitor View of the Haiti earthquake and aftershocks (Flash) or with color coded magnitude (Quicktime).
To save the videos above, right click a Quicktime link and choose "Save Target As".
USGS Resources
En Español
- Presentación en Español (ppt 3.28MB)
- Periódico La Jornada - Haití, devastado por un terremoto; el país más pobre del hemisferio clama por ayuda
- Periódico La Nación - Dramática búsqueda de sobrevivientes en Haití tras el devastador sismo
- El Nacional (Republica dominicana) - Miles de muertos; muchos siguen atrapados
- Claridad- Haití: A dos días del terremoto
Additional Haiti Earthquake Resources
- added 17 Feb Security cameras at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince
- added 15 Feb Haiti Field reconnaisance - Roger Bilham
- added 1 Feb NSF Geophysicists in Haiti Blog
- added 28 Jan Scientists Return to Haiti to Assess Possibility of Another Major Quake (NSF)
- added 27 Jan USGS Assessment of Aftershock Hazards in Haiti
- added 20 Jan Seismology and Tectonics of Hispaniola (ppt 17.5MB)- Jay Pulliam, Paul Mann, Lisa Gahagen
- added 20 Jan Haiti Earthquake 2010: Facts, Engineering, Images & Maps - MCEER
- added 20 Jan The 10% Solution: How to Respond to the Haitian Earthquake- Brian Tucker (GeoHazards International) January 14th Guardian (UK)
- Recent Geology/Geophysics on Haiti
added 20 Jan Jackson School of Geophysics: The University of Texas at Austin
added 20 Jan Purdue University: Eric Calais - Earthquake 101 video on the Haiti earthquake from NBC Nightly News
- Natural Hazard and Vulnerability Assessment of the Caribbean, Fall 2009 Class Project, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC (ppt 2MB)
-Class project for Geology 213: Natural Hazards which identified Haiti as having the highest risk of damaging future earthquake - Deformation of Jamaica and motion of the Gonave microplate from GPS and seismic data
Authored by C. DeMets and M. Wiggins-Grandison (pdf 1.5MB)
-2006 research paper on the motion of the Gonave microplate using GPS and seismic data gathered on the island of Jamaica. Haiti and Jamaica extend onto the Gonave microplate - Woods Hole Science Center
-Caribbean tsunami and earthquake hazards studies with movies, diagrams and recent research publications - Observed and predicted Caribbean GPS site velocities (pdf) from
"Is There a Northern Lesser Antilles Forearc Block?" López, A., S. Stein, T.
Dixon, G. Sella, E. Calais, P. Jansma, J. Weber, and P. LaFemina, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 33, doi:10.1029/2005GL025293. - Stress, strain and topo maps from UNAVCO site
- US Agency for International Development
January 9, 2010 (00:27:39 UTC)
Magnitude 6.5 Offshore Northern California
This earthquake occurred approximately 35 km WNW of Ferndale, CA in a deformation zone of the southernmost Juan de Fuca plate that is commonly referred to as the Gorda plate. The earthquake's epicenter is northwest of the Mendocino Triple Junction, which is formed by the intersection of the Mendocino fracture zone, the San Andreas fault and the Cascadia subduction zone. (USGS National Earthquake Information Center)
Presentation
University of Portland/IRIS Earthquake Notice (pdf)
12 slide Teachable Moment Powerpoint (zipped)
Converted powerpoint (pdf)
En Español
January 3, 2010 (22:36:28 UTC)
Magnitude 7.1 Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands earthquake of January 3, 2010, likely occurred at the boundary between the Pacific and Australian plates, where the Australian plate subducts beneath the Pacific towards the northeast at a rate of approximately 95 mm/yr. (USGS National Earthquake Information Center)
Presentation
University of Portland/IRIS Earthquake Notice (pdf)
Individual Files
Seismic wave propagation (Quicktime Animation)
En Español
Propagación de Ondas Sísmicas (Animación Quicktime)
Additional Resources
December 30, 2009 (18:48:57 UTC)
Magnitude 5.9 Baja California, Mexico
The northern Baja California earthquake of December 30, 2009, occurred on the principal plate boundary between the North America and Pacific plate. At the latitude of the earthquake, the Pacific plate moves northwest with respect to the North America plate at 45 mm/y. (USGS National Earthquake Information Center)
Presentation
9 slide powerpoint (zipped, includes animation)
University of Portland/IRIS Earthquake Notice (pdf)
Converted powerpoint (pdf)
Individual Files
Seismic wave propagation (Quicktime Animation)
En Español
Presentación en Español (Archivo Zip)
Propagación de Ondas Sísmicas (Animación Quicktime)
Additional Resources
November 17, 2009 (15:30:46 UTC)
Magnitude 6.6 Queen Charlotte Islands Region
A strong earthquake occurred on the Queen Charlotte transform fault. The Pacific Plate moves north-northwest approximately parallel to the Queen Charlotte transform fault that connects the Explorer Ridge (an extension of the Juan de Fuca Ridge) with the Aleutian Trench.
Presentation
University of Portland/IRIS PDF Earthquake Notice
Seismic wave propagation (Quicktime Animation)
November 9, 2009 (10:44:54 UTC)
Magnitude 7.3 Fiji
The Fiji earthquake of 9 November 2009 occurred at the northern end of the inclined seismic zone that dips to the west beneath Tonga and Fiji. The broad-scale tectonics of the earthquake region are dominated by the relative convergence of the Pacific and Australia plates. At the latitude of the earthquake, the Pacific plate moves westward with respect to the interior of the Australia plate at a velocity of about 86 mm/yr. (USGS National Earthquake Information Center)
Presentation
University of Portland/IRIS PDF Earthquake Notice
Seismic wave propagation (Quicktime Animation)
Novermber 4, 2009 (12:38:29 UTC)
Magnitude 5.3 Off the Coast of Oregon
This moderate earthquake occurred on the Blanco Fracture Zone that is a transform boundary between the Juan de Fuca and Pacific plates. The direction of relative motion between these plates along the Blanco Fracture Zone is right-lateral horizontal strike-slip. Although earthquakes occur frequently along the Blanco Fracture Zone, they are rarely felt in Oregon or Washington because they are moderate magnitude and a significant distance from the coast.
