Exploring Earth's mantle through microseisms

The ocean is constantly whirring with activity. The pressure from this constant roiling and swelling is one cause of microseisms—random, nearly imperceptible vibrations of Earth that also can be produced by human activities ...

Sinking seamount offers clues to slow motion earthquakes

Scientists have long puzzled over what happens when seamounts—mountains and volcanoes on the seafloor—are pulled into subduction zones. Now, new research from The University of Texas at Austin shows that when seamounts ...

How an earthquake becomes a tsunami

The movement between continental and oceanic plates at the bottom of the sea, so-called megathrust earthquakes, generates the strongest tremors and the most dangerous tsunamis. How and when they occur, however, has been poorly ...

Rougher faults may generate more earthquake aftershocks

When an earthquake hits, it is rarely an isolated event. Foreshocks precede quakes, and aftershocks follow them. To quantify seismic hazards, scientists must disentangle the factors that contribute to these shaking sequences.

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