All Articles Tagged As: seismic instruments

Catching quakes with laptops (10/29/2008)

Inside your laptop is a small accelerometer chip, there to protect the delicate moving parts of your hard disk from sudden jolts.It turns out that the same chip is a pretty good earthquake sensor, too -- especially if the signals from lots of them are compared, in order to filter out more mundane sources of laptop vibrations, such as typing. ...> Full Article

Oil, Gas Seismic Work Not Affecting Sperm Whales (8/22/2008)

Seismic airguns during geophysical exploration for oil and gas - seem to have minimal effect on endangered sperm whales ...> Full Article

Researchers distinguish waves from mine collapses from other seismic activities (7/13/2008)

Researchers have devised a technology that can distinguish mine collapses from other seismic activity. ...> Full Article

A world novelty for an improved tsunami early warning (7/11/2008)

New early warning system being installed in Indonesia ...> Full Article

Fire under the ice (6/26/2008)

International expedition discovers gigantic volcanic eruption in the Arctic Ocean ...> Full Article

Fatal Mine Collapse Covered 50 Acres (6/3/2008)

Disaster began near where miners worked ...> Full Article

Tiny tremors can track extreme storms in a warming planet (4/18/2008)

ata from faint earth tremors caused by wind-driven ocean waves-often dismissed as "background noise" at seismographic stations around the world-suggest extreme ocean storms have become more frequent over the past three decades ...> Full Article

Seismologist's Project Uses Public's Laptops to Monitor and Predict Earthquakes (4/6/2008)

Network of computers senses earthquake and sends warning, potentially saving lives ...> Full Article

On the hunt for 'black gold' (2/19/2008)

The surprise discovery of university-owned rights to oil and natural gas in southern Alberta is leading to first-hand lessons in the energy sector for students and researchers who have begun exploring the potential of the reserves using some of the latest technology in exploration geology. ...> Full Article

For geoscientist Simons, Earth's deepest secrets may come from the sea (1/29/2008)

Princeton Earth scientist Frederik Simons believes the answers to questions about such unpredictable and destructive acts of nature as earthquakes and volcanoes might best be found floating in the ocean. ...> Full Article

Earth's getting 'soft' in the middle (1/26/2008)

Since we can't sample the deepest regions of the Earth, scientists watch the velocity of seismic waves as they travel through the planet to determine the composition and density of that material. Now a new study suggests that material in part of the lower mantle has unusual electronic characteristics that make sound propagate more slowly, suggesting that the material there is softer than previously thought. The results call into question the traditional techniques for understanding this region of the planet. The authors, including Alexander Goncharov from the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, present their results in the January 25, 2008, issue of Science. ...> Full Article

Seismic Images Show Dinosaur-killing Meteor Made Bigger Splash (1/24/2008)

The most detailed three-dimensional seismic images yet of the Chicxulub crater, a mostly submerged and buried impact crater on the Mexico coast, may modify a theory explaining the extinction of 70 percent of life on Earth 65 million years ago. ...> Full Article

Geoscientists use radar to locate lost graves (1/19/2008)

Participants in a summer course for educators used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to locate a pair of lost graves at an abandoned cemetery outside Houston. The site might become a historical monument. ...> Full Article

Exploration Of Lake Hidden Beneath Antarctica's Ice Sheet Begins (1/18/2008)

A four-man science team led by British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) Dr Andy Smith has begun exploring an ancient lake hidden deep beneath Antarctica's ice sheet. The lake -- the size of Lake Windermere (UK) -- could yield vital clues to life on Earth, climate change and future sea-level rise. ...> Full Article

Earthquake 'memory' could spur aftershocks (1/4/2008)

Using a novel device that simulates earthquakes in a laboratory setting, a team of researchers have shown that seismic waves - the sounds radiated from earthquakes - can induce earthquake aftershocks, often long after a quake has subsided. ...> Full Article

Large earthquakes may broadcast warnings, but is anyone tuning in to listen (12/16/2007)

Like geological ninjas, earthquakes can strike without warning. But there may be a way to detect the footfalls of large earthquakes before they strike, alerting their potential victims a week or more in advance. A Stanford professor thinks a method to provide just such warnings may have been buried in the scientific literature for over 40 years. ...> Full Article

Geologist probes undersea seismic zone as part of new deep-drilling experiment (12/15/2007)

The first effort to drill into an undersea zone where massive earthquakes and tsunamis are generated has yielded new data on the stresses that build up there, according to Casey Moore, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. ...> Full Article

Early warning system predicted shaking from Oct. 30 quake (12/12/2007)

A California earthquake early warning system now being tested accurately predicted the ground shaking in San Francisco a few seconds before the city felt the Oct. 30, 2007, magnitude 5.4 quake near San Jose, according to a statewide team of seismologists. ...> Full Article

Pulselike and Cracklike Ruptures in Earthquake Experiments (12/7/2007)

Lab experiments that mimic the way the ground moves during destructive earthquakes require some sophisticated equipment, and they yield valuable insights. Caltech scientists studying how sliding motion spreads along a fault interface conducted a series of experiments involving ultrafast digital cameras and high-speed laser velocimeters to replicate a range of realistic fault conditions. ...> Full Article

Researchers break new ground in earthquake predictions (12/4/2007)

Researchers from UQ's Earth Systems Science Computational Centre (ESSCC) who were able to predict a series of three large Sumatran earthquakes that occurred in September, will present their ground-breaking research at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), held from December 10 to 14. ...> Full Article

Antarctic Team To Install Seismographs, Where 'No Man -Or Woman - Has Gone Before' (11/11/2007)

A team of seismologists from Washington University in St. Louis, like members of the starship Enterprise, will "boldly go where no man has gone before" after Thanksgiving this year. ...> Full Article

NEPTUNE Completes First Phase of Installation (11/8/2007)

The first phase of the new NEPTUNE Canada ocean observatory is being completed today off the west coast of Vancouver Island. ...> Full Article

Geologists Recover Rocks from San Andreas Fault (10/5/2007)

Scientists drill into earthquake zone 10,000-plus feet beneath Earth's surface ...> Full Article