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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
USGS1983

Tangshan, six years later

At 3:42 a.m on July 28, 1976, the now infamous Tangshan earthquake struck that heavily industrialized city in eastern China killing, by official count, 240,000 people. During the first 2 years after the earthquake, estimates of casualties ranged from 650,000 to 800,000. Almost certainly the exact number will never be known. The earthquake was measured at magntiude 7.8, and intensities that registered XI on teh Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale occurred throughout the city of Tangshan.

Tangshan↗
USGS1978

How often will earthquakes recur on the San Andreas Fault?

The relationship between magnitude and abundance of earthquakes, called a recurrence curve, has been derived for many regions of the world from seismographic records. AS an example, Clarence Allen and his associates at the California Institute of Technology have obtained recurrence rates for the southern California region by incorporating data from over 10,000 earthquakes recorded between 1934 and 1963. My own approach to estimating average recurrence intervals has been somewhat different. I have used the history of slip rates along the San Andreas fault that are preserved in the geologic record. The main advantage in this method is that is samples a very long period of time, which gives a better estimate of the recurrence of small earthquakes.

California↗
USGS1978

Earthquake history of Wyoming

Forty-five earthquakes of moderate intensity (V or greater) on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MM) and extent have originated in Wyoming from 1894 to 1976. Many shocks have occurred in Yellowstone National Park, including an intensity VII event in June 1975. the 1959 Hebgen Lake, Mont., earthquake, centered just west of the park, was felt (MM VII) in northwestern Wyoming. Many aftershocks from this earthquake were reported in Yellowstone Park (MM V-VI) through December 1959, and numerous shocks of lesser intensities continued through 1963.

Wyoming↗
USGS1978

Earthquake history of Wisconsin

Only one earthquake of intensity V on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MM) or greater has occurred within Wisconsin during historic times. Some shocks originating in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Canada have been felt.

Wisconsin↗
USGS1980

Monitoring active volcanoes

One of the most spectacular, awesomely beautiful, and at times, most destructive displays of natural energy is an erupting volcano, belching fume and ash thousands of feet into the atmoshpehere and pouring out red-hot molten lava in fountains and streams.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1979

Forensic seismology

Twenty years ago, politicians, concerned a the slow progress of negotiations to stop nuclear weapons testing, described the state of seismology as being in the equivalent of the Stone Age. this assessment spurred the beginning of research and development at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment near the village of Aldermaston, England. the object was to establish the limits of seismology for the detection and identification of underground explosions against a background of earthquakes. Thereby, verification that there was compliance with a treaty to ban further nuclear tests could be assessed before making political decisions. Negotiations now taking place in Geneva between the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom are aimed at such a treaty.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1978

Quakes; U. S. plans ways to cope

To minimize damage and loss of life when, as is believed inevitable, a major earthquake strikes the United States, plans have been prepared for the creation of new Federal agencies, widespread reinforcement of structures and extensive research on earthquake prediction, control, and hazard reduction.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1980

The earthquake educational institute at San Francisco State University

The Earthquake Educational Institute was established in 1978 at San Francisco State University under a grant from the U.S National Science Foundation. The goal of the Institute is to develop earthquake-related curricula for use in elementary and secondary schools in the hope that, by educating students about earthquakes, they will be better prepared for the disruptions associated with a major quake. To date, about 140 elementary and secondary school teachers and administrators have enrolled in the program.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1980

Earthquake alarm; operating the seismograph station at the University of California, Berkeley.

An alarm bell rings at the seismographic station and at the office of the campus police. It is 3:00 on a foggy San Francisco morning. Somewhere in the world an earthquake has occurred. The police telephone the duty seismologist at home telling him that the alarm has triggered. He makes his way into the seismograph station, bathrobe and all, to locate the earthquake and determine its magnitude. In this way, many seismology graduate students have been initiated into the responsibilities of running a seismographic station. At the University of California seismographic stations, the task of locating and determining magnitudes for both local and distant earthquakes is a continuous one. Teleseisms must be located rapidly so that events that occur in the Pacific can be identified and the Pacific Tsunami Warning System alerted. For great earthquakes anywhere, there is a responsibility to notify public agencies such as the California Office of Emergency Services, the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, the California Seismic Safety Commission, and the American Red Cross. In the case of damaging local earthquakes, it is necessary to alert also the California Department of Water Resources, California Division of Mines and Geology, U.S Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Bureau of Reclamation, and the Bay Area Rapid Transit. These days, any earthquakes that are felt in northern California cause immediate inquiries from the news media and an interested public. The series of earthquakes that jolted the Livermore area from January 24 to 26 1980, is a good case in point.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1974

Computer systems for automatic earthquake detection

U.S Geological Survey seismologists in Menlo park, California, are utilizing the speed, reliability, and efficiency of minicomputers to monitor seismograph stations and to automatically detect earthquakes. An earthquake detection computer system, believed to be the only one of its kind in operation, automatically reports about 90 percent of all local earthquakes recorded by a network of over 100 central California seismograph stations. The system also monitors the stations for signs of malfunction or abnormal operation. Before the automatic system was put in operation, all of the earthquakes recorded had to be detected by manually searching the records, a time-consuming process. With the automatic detection system, the stations are efficiently monitored continuously.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1977

Measuring the size of an earthquake

Earthquakes occur in a broad range of sizes. A rock burst in an Idaho silver mine may involve the fracture of 1 meter of rock; the 1965 Rat island earthquake in the Aleutian arc involved a 650-kilometer lenght of Earth's crust. Earthquakes can be even smaller and even larger. if an earthquake is felt or causes perceptible surface damage, then its intesnity of shaking can be subjectively estimated. But many large earthquakes occur in oceanic area or at great focal depths. These are either simply not felt or their felt pattern does not really indicate their true size.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1979

International Seismological Centre

The International Seismological Centre had its origins when the British seismologist Professor John Milne returned to England from Japan in 1895 to retire at Shide on the Isle of Eight. In cooperation with the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Milne had set up a number of seismographic stations around the world and, while Tokyo, had published a Catalogue of 8,33 Earthquakes Recorded in Japan, 1885-1892.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1985

An interview with Karl Steinbrugge

For thirty years the name of Karl V. Steinbrugge has been synonymous with the Insurance Services Office in San Francisco. There he was in charge of their earthquake engineering and research activities for the United States, and his work included detailed engineering investigations of the probable earthquake damage to structures as well as studies of actual earthquake effects. trained as a civil and structural engineer, Steinbrugge was on faculty of the University of California at Berkeley for 28 years, retiring as a Professor of Structural Design. He has served on numerous national and international committees on earthquake hazards, and he is now a consulting structural engineer, specializing in earthquake hazard evaluation. At the present moment he is chairman of an independent panel of the Federal Emergency Management Agency that is reviewing the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. Henry Spall recently asked Steinbrugge some questions about his long career.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗