Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Earthquake Magnitude Scale

Since we are in a time of Earth changes I thought it might be helpful to post a scale to help us all remember the severity of earthquakes as they occur.

Magnitude Earthquake

9.0M or greater
Megathrust
Can totally destroy communities near the epicenter.

Examples:
• 1964 Alaska earthquake 9.2M
Megathrust
• 2004 Indian Ocean 9.1

8.0M or greater
Great earthquake.

Example:
• 2010 Chile 8.8M
Also considered by some a MegaThrust.

7.0 to 7.9M
Major earthquake.
Can cause serious damage.

Example:
• 1950 Costa Rica (Nicoya Pennensula) 7.7M

6.1 to 6.9M
May cause a lot of damage in populated areas.

5.5 to 6.0M
Slight damage to buildings.

2.5 to 5.4M
Often felt but w/minor damage.

2.5M or less
Usually not felt, but may be recorded.

Sources: UPSeis, Wikipedia, MSNBC.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Earth Changes

Earthquakes seem to be making the news rather frequently these days. On March 4, 2010, a strong earthquake hit Taiwan (6.4M), injuring approximately sixty-four people, disrupting communications, and triggering a fire. It is alledged to be the biggest earthquake to hit this region in more that a century, and unrelated to the Chilean earthquake 6 days earlier.

On February 27, 2010, an impressively strong earthquake (8.8M) hit Chile and generated several tsunamis, causing mild to moderate damage in that country. A short while before, on January 12th, Haiti was rocked by a (7.0M) earthquake, while the Sumatran earthquake (9.1M) of 2004 generated a massive Indian Ocean tsunami killing thousands of people. Everyday there are earthquakes of various size and magnitude that occur in different areas around the globe.

Unfortunately, many people don't even give a second thought to earthquakes, or the earth changes that occur as a result of them, unless they are directly affected by one. The problem with a compalcent attitude, is that people believe that tomorrow is just going to be another another day, and life will continue as it is.

This, however, is an erroneous assumption, since our planet is in a constant state of movement and change. The environment, continents, oceans, air, plant and animal life changes from moment to moment, depending upon what is going on in our biosphere. If Homo sapiens is going to continue its life on earth, then it needs to wake-up and become conscious as to what is occurring within its realm of being.

Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said, “The length of the day should have gotten shorter by 1.26 microseconds (millionths of a second),” he went on to say in an e-mail reply to questions. “The axis about which the Earth’s mass is balanced should have moved by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters or 3 inches).” He added, “The Sumatran earthquake shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted the axis by about 2.3 milliarcseconds."

Although this may not seem like a great deal of earth change, we must remember that even the tinest shift in the earth can result in significant changes in the planet's environment as we move forward in time, and with more significant earthquakes, the amount of change in axis and length of day may be compounded.

Earth is a delicately balanced bio-sphere, and even the slightest imbalance can cause unknown consequences and effects in the weather, seasons, et cetera. It is time for people to wake-up to this fact and realize there is much they can do, to reduce the damage that Homo sapiens is doing to the planet.