California Earthquake Brings Scattered Damage

The strongest earthquake to hit Southern California in 20 years left scattered damage Thursday morning and was felt from Las Vegas to Orange County, the US Geological Survey reported. From a report: The quake, with an early magnitude of 6.4, was centered near Ridgecrest, a community west of the Mojave Desert and about 150 miles north of Los Angeles. Reports of…

Why Doesn’t the U.S. Build More Earthquake-Proof Buildings?

schwit1 shares a report from the New York Times flagging America’s surprising low usage of an engineering technique protecting buildings from earthquakes:
Chile, China, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Turkey and other countries vulnerable to earthquakes have adopted the technologies to varying degrees. But with notable exceptions, including Apple’s new headquarters in Silicon Valley, the innovations have been used only sparingly in the United…

A Tectonic Plate May Have Peeled Apart – and That Could Shrink the Atlantic

pgmrdlm quotes National Geographic: For years, João Duarte has puzzled over a seemingly boring underwater expanse off the coast of Portugal. In 1969, this site spawned a massive earthquake that rattled the shore and sparked a tsunami. But you would never know why just from looking at the broad, featureless surface of the seabed. Duarte, a marine geologist from the Instituto…

Does fracking for gas have a future in the UK after key resignation?

The resignation of shale gas commissioner Natascha Engel over earthquake rules is far from the only reason to think fracking’s prospects are bleak in the UK Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2201050-does-fracking-for-gas-have-a-future-in-the-uk-after-key-resignation/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…