In early November 2000 the Big Island of Hawaii experienced its largest earthquake in more than a decade. Some 2,000 cubic kilometers of the southern slope of Kilauea volcano lurched toward the ocean, releasing the energy of a magnitude 5.7 shock. Part of that motion took place under an area where thousands of people stop every day to catch a glimpse of one of the island's most spectacular lava flows. Yet when the earthquake struck, no one noticed--not even seismologists.

How could such a notable event be overlooked? As it turns out, quaking is not an intrinsic part of all earthquakes. The event on Kilauea was one of the first unambiguous records of a so-called silent earthquake, a type of massive earth movement unknown to science until just a few years ago. Indeed, I would never have discovered this quake if my colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory had not already been using a network of sensitive instruments to monitor the volcano's activity. When I finally noticed that Kilauea's south flank had shifted 10 centimeters along an underground fault, I also saw that this movement had taken nearly 36 hours--a turtle's pace for an earthquake. In a typical tremor, opposite sides of the fault rocket past each other in a matter of seconds--quickly enough to create the seismic waves that cause the ground to rumble and shake.

This article was originally published with the title The Threat of Silent Earthquakes.

1 Comments

1. 1. louile88 05:31 PM 9/22/11

   With all the crazy things going on in our world lately, I'm happy that I finally found www.soskits.com for preparedness products and training. Mike and his team are easy to talk to, and I found a coupon code online (code is: 911) that got me a discount on my order, as well as contributed a portion of my order to a good cause.
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this