• Question: Why do you find earthquakes so interesting?

    Asked by hannahisawesome to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 23 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by bhavinamistry, harrypotter765.
    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 23 Jun 2012:

      Hi hannahisawesome,
      Earthquakes happen because the tectonic plates that make up our crust are moving, and the rub against each other to create earthquakes. The process of plate tectonics is fundamental to the way the planet works, and studying earthquakes is the best way of understanding that. So studying earthquakes is crucial to understanding the planet.

      Also, earthquakes have killed huge numbers of people, so if we can understand them better, then maybe we can find ways to help reduce their impact, and at least educate people so they know what might happen, and what to do if an earthquake happens.

    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 24 Jun 2012:

      Hi hannahisawesome

      I don’t work with earthquakes anymore, but when I did my undergraduate degree I studied geology and it was earthquakes, volcanoes and the generally incredible island of Iceland that made me want to study geology. I’m always staggered by the power of earthquakes, the facts about the Japan earthquake last year, where it affected the rotation of the Earth, the wobble on it’s axis of the Earth and what it did to Japan, in just a few seconds was just mindblowing.

      James V will probably know these facts exactly, but it is something like that Japan became 4m wider, the length of a day (1 complete rotation of the Earth) was reduced by a a microsecond as the rotation speeded up and the Earth’s wobble was moved by half a degree. All this because of an earthquake does make them so cool!

    • Photo: Gemma Purser

      Gemma Purser answered on 24 Jun 2012:

      I have never studied earthquakes in depth like James V but I do think they are interesting. I can remember when there was a little earthquake in the UK, it was in February 2008 and the epicentre (the point where the earthquake started) was in a place called Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.It happened at about 1 o’clock in the morning and it woke me up! It was weird and the first time i had ever felt what an earthquake was like!!

    • Photo: Davie Galloway

      Davie Galloway answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Hi hannahisawesome (i like your username btw),

      I actually started my working life as an engineer in the dockyard working on submarines and other naval vessels. Soon after I left that job to study chemical enginnering my partner fell pregnant so it was time to get a paid job to look after my family. I applied for the job at the British Geological Survey as a data analyst with the seismology department not knowing much about earthquakes especially that we had so many in the UK. I got the job on a 3 month contract which has now lasted over 23 years … a long 3 months. It was through this new job and while i was studying with the Open University that my interest in earthquakes came to light. It’s the fact that we never really know when an earthquake is going to happen, where it’s going to happen and how big it’s going to be that really grabs my attention. While at work I could be analysing a small earthquake in, for example, Ambleside in Cumbria that no one ever hears or knows about except for our seismometers one minute and the next I’m analysing a massive earthquake in Japan that the whole world knows about. It’s when the big earthquakes happen, wether in the UK or anywhere else in the world that my job gets exciting. That’s when many TV crews arrive at work looking for interviews, when we’re never of the phone giving many many interviews to the all the interested radio stations throughout the world and when we speak to numerous members of the public who are worried that the world is coming to an end, which it’s not, but it’s my job to tell them that.

Comments

  • Photo: James V

    James V commented on :

    I don’t have any numbers to hand for the recent Japan quake, but do you remember the Sumatra earthquake on Boxing Day 2004, which also caused huge tsunamis in Indonesia and India?

    That earthquake released the same amount of energy as 1500 Hiroshima nuclear bombs, that’s how powerful it was! It create fault scarps (cliffs) on the sea bed that ran for 800 miles with a height of as much as 10m. That creation of that topography displaced 30 km cubed of water, which is what caused the tidal wave. The seismic waves created shook the whole planet – everywhere on earth vibrated by at least 1cm, minimum (even here in the UK). The scale of the quake was sufficient to shorten the length of our days by 2.68 microseconds, and caused the earth to wobble on its axis by up to 5cm!

    So really, how could you not think that earthquakes are amazing and awesome?!?!

  • Photo: James P

    James P commented on :

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12732335

    “Japan’s coastline may have shifted by as much as 4m (13ft) to the east following Friday’s 8.9 Magnitude earthquake, according to experts.

    Data from the country’s Geonet network of around 1,200 GPS monitoring stations suggest a large displacement following the massive quake.

    Dr Roger Musson from the British Geological Survey (BGS) told BBC News the movement observed following the quake was “in line with what you get when you have an earthquake this big”.

    The quake probably shifted Earth on its axis by about 6.5 inches (16.5cm) and caused the planet to rotate somewhat faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 millionths of a second.”

    Thanks to the BBC for allowing me to find the numbers!

  • Photo: Alison

    Alison commented on :

    Wow! This is such a great question and there are some really awesome answers from you scientists! I kind of study what James V was talking about above – but instead of studying the geology of past earthquakes, I study the people that were involved and either died or got hurt. Because not everyone is at the same risk in an earthquake, the more we learn about them the better prepared we can be in the future!