Earth changes - Tuesday

Bear witness. Gaia is speaking. Love or fear? Love or fear? Choose now. The "fat lady" has left the dressing room and can be heard approaching the microphone.
– Mike Ruppert

Magnitude 5.8 quake shakes Anchorage, Alaska

Google,4 December, 2012

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A strong earthquake Monday was felt over a 175-mile swath of Alaska, including the state's largest city, but there were no immediate reports of damage beyond items knocked off shelves.


The Alaska and West Coast Tsunami Warning Center said the magnitude-5.8 earthquake occurred at about 4:45 p.m. and was centered about 30 miles northwest of Anchorage. The Alaska Earthquake Information Center said the center was 27 miles west of Anchorage.


Guy Urban, a geophysicist at the tsunami warning center, said the quake wasn't expected to generate a tsunami.


He said the center had reports of residents feeling the quake throughout the Anchorage metro area and beyond. It was also felt as far south as the fishing community of Homer, 125 miles southwest of Anchorage, and in Willow, 50 miles north of the city.


"No reports of damage thus far," said Anchorage police spokesman Lt. Dave Parker, who felt the quake at his home in Wasilla, about 45 miles north of Anchorage. "Just a little shaker-upper," he said.


Beyond the very minor damage of items being knocked off shelves, there were no reports of building collapses or major structural damage, Parker said.


"It hit like a bam, really hard," said John Owens, who felt the quake at his home in East Anchorage.


That was followed by low shaking, which he estimated to last about 30 seconds. "And then it ended with a second bam," he said.


Karen Whitworth, an artist with an online gallery, was in her Wasilla studio when the rumbling began. She felt lightheaded as if her inner ears lost their sense of balance.


"Your Spidey senses are tingling," she said. Her paintings were swaying on the wall and the window blinds were going back and forth, but nothing was damaged.
It seemed to last more than a minute, but Whitworth wasn't scared enough to get out of her chair. Her husband shepherded their young son and daughter under a door.


After it was over, her children chatted excitedly what fun it was.
Alaska is seismically active and has frequent earthquakes, although most are too small or too remote to be felt.


Alaska is the site of the biggest earthquake recorded in North America — a magnitude-9.2 quake on Good Friday 1964 that struck 75 miles east of Anchorage on Prince William Sound. The quake and the ensuing tsunami killed 115 people

Earthquake swarm reported at California’s Coso Volcanic Field

December 4, 2012 – CALIFORNIA - 

An energetic earthquake swarm centered beneath rhyolite domes in the Coso Volcanic Field (CA) continues, with over 20 earthquakes ranging between M1 and M3 so far today. 

Many smaller events (hundreds) are recorded as well. 

The swarm initiated on 27 November and has included earthquakes as large as M3.7. The Coso Volcanic Field is located in Inyo County, California, at the western edge of the Basin and Range geologic province and northern region of the Mojave Desert. 

The Coso Volcanic Field is one of the most seismically active regions in the United States, producing dozens of tremors in the M1 and M2 range each week. 

Tremors in the M3 range occur at a rate of 2-6 per month and M4 quakes occur two-three times each year. 

Recent activity in the M5 range happened in 1996 and 1998 when tremors of M5.3, M5.1, M5.2, and M5.0 occurred with a day of each other. These tremors were actually recorded along the eastern side of the Coso Volcanic Field, 15 miles (24 km). September 30, 2009 to October 6, 2009 there have been 429 earthquakes ranging from 0.1 up to a 5.2. Some days have activity just about one every minute. 

On October 2, 2009 there were three earthquakes (5.2, 4.7, and a 4.9) all within one hour of each other. Earthquake swarms are common in the Coso area, often producing hundreds of tremors over periods of time as short as a few days. This kind of brisk and robust seismic activity is common in volcanic areas, such as Long Valley Caldera located near Mammoth Lakes, and Yellowstone Caldera at Yellowstone. Geologists say the last eruption of the volcanic fields occurred 30 to 40,000 years ago.

–Earthquake Report, Wikipedia

Magnitude 3.9 - COLORADO

2012 December 04 15:15:26 UTC

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude	3.9
Date-Time	Tuesday, December 04, 2012 at 15:15:26 UTC Tuesday, December 04, 2012 at 08:15:26 AM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	37.028°N, 104.918°W
Depth	5.7 km (3.5 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region	COLORADO
Distances	40 km (24 miles) WSW of Trinidad, Colorado 138 km (85 miles) SSW of Pueblo, Colorado 147 km (91 miles) S of Pueblo West, Colorado 155 km (96 miles) NE of Espanola, New Mexico
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 2.8 km (1.7 miles); depth +/- 13 km (8.1 miles)
Parameters	NST= 89, Nph= 89, Dmin=46.8 km, Rmss=0.66 sec, Gp= 22°, M-type=local magnitude (ML), Version=7
Source	USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	us2012itaj

Bulgaria - Earthquake was felt in Varna district

Sofia. According to latest information the earthquake that jolted this evening eastern Bulgaria measured 4.2 on Richter scale and was registered in the aquatory of Black Sea. This is what the officer on duty at Fire Safety and Rescue Chief Directorate announced for FOCUS News Agency . The quake was felt in Varna district. According to data there are no signals for incidents and damages. 

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n293933

Volcano activity of December 4, 2012 – eruption photo from Plosky Tolbachik (Kamchatka)

Earthquake Report,
4 December, 2012



KVERT reports that seismicity associated with the ongoing flank fissure eruption at Plosky Tolbachik (Kamchatka Peninsula) remains high.  Recent satellite imagery shows the eruption plume being pulled south and east of the eruption site by low pressure to the north.

A burst of small earthquakes began yesterday beneath the South Moat of Long Valley Caldera (CA) (station MDR).  The number of events decreased overnight, but magnitudes are higher (M1<M2) today.  To the south, the earthquake swarm that began on 27 November continues beneath the Coso Volcanic Field.  Events there have migrated north, deepened (along a fault?) and decreased in magnitude with time (due to higher temperature at depth?). Nine earthquakes between M1 and M3 have occurred beneath the field thus far today.

Surface activity remains subdued at Popocatepetl (gas and ash exhalations average one every two hours), but the volcano put on a brief display of some of its power yesterday afternoon when it launched an ash cloud nearly three kilometers high.  The Popocatepetl seismogram shows the event (many times due to a software defect!).

Seismograms from the Guatemalan volcanoes were not accessible today.

A brief pulse of volcanic earthquakes occurred overnight at (or near) Cerro Negro volcano (Nicaragua) (station CNGN).  Volcanic tremor seems to be slowly easing at nearby Masaya volcano (station MASN), and periods of low-amplitude volcanic tremor have appeared on seismograms at Concepcion volcano (station CONN) during the past 24 hours.

Strong volcanic seismicity, in the form of both tremor and low-frequency (explosion?) earthquakes continues at Reventador volcano (Ecuador) (station CONE) today.

A few small local earthquakes are evident on seismograms from Tongariro volcano (New Zealand).  More numerous small earthquakes, admixed with low-level volcanic tremor occur at nearby Ruapehu volcano, and the White Island seismogram remains filled with continuous, relatively strong volcanic tremor again today

.

Recent satellite imagery caught the plume from yesterday’s explosion at Popocatepetl, and a relatively small SO2-enriched plume drifting from Nyiragongo volcano (DRC).