ENVR 8.2 Earthquake Sea of Okhotsk (eastern coast of Russia)

The Mountain

Here since the beginning
_______________
What's interesting is that that area of the world is pretty geologicially stable, despite being close to the "Ring of Fire". In fact, the plate boundary shown passing up through Siberia is only a guess; no one really knows exactly where it is because it hasn't ever done anything notable.
 

Night Owl

Veteran Member
No tsunami warning for HAWAII! They are not expecting any tsunami and will not give any further notice about it...Night aowl
 

Double_A

TB Fanatic
Quake mag 8.2 - SEA OF OKHOTSK, Russia area

***This event supersedes event AT00mnafyn.


Region: SEA OF OKHOTSK
Geographic coordinates: 54.870N, 153.334E
Magnitude: 8.2
Depth: 601 km
Universal Time (UTC): 24 May 2013 05:44:49
Time near the Epicenter: 24 May 2013 15:44:49
Local standard time in your area: 23 May 2013 21:44:49

Location with respect to nearby cities:
359 km (222 mi) WSW of Esso, Russia
379 km (234 mi) WNW of Yelizovo, Russia
396 km (245 mi) NW of Vilyuchinsk, Russia
403 km (249 mi) WNW of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
2375 km (1472 mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan


Wow look at the depth 601 km - D_A
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
ETA: moved response to Mountain to post below

No tsunami warning for HAWAII! They are not expecting any tsunami and will not give any further notice about it...Night aowl

here's the update:

000
WEHW42 PHEB 240553
TIBHWX
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-240753-

TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT NUMBER 1
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
753 PM HST THU MAY 23 2013

TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT

THIS STATEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. NO ACTION REQUIRED.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 0745 PM HST 23 MAY 2013
COORDINATES - 54.7 NORTH 153.4 EAST
LOCATION - SEA OF OKHOTSK
MAGNITUDE - 8.2 MOMENT

EVALUATION

BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A DESTRUCTIVE PACIFIC-WIDE TSUNAMI IS
NOT EXPECTED AND THERE IS NO TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII. REPEAT. A
DESTRUCTIVE PACIFIC-WIDE TSUNAMI IS NOT EXPECTED AND THERE IS NO
TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY STATEMENT ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL DATA ARE RECEIVED.

http://ptwc.weather.gov/ptwc/text.php?id=hawaii.TIBHWX.2013.05.24.0553
(fair use applies)
 

tanstaafl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Keep in mind that the Kamchatka Peninsula (the eastern boundary for the Sea of Okhotsk) has quite a few active volcanoes, which suggests to me that plate tectonics and perhaps subduction zones are at least contributing to the volcanic activity. Wikipedia has a page for them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanoes_of_Kamchatka).

edited to add: Found a bit more information and a map:

"Three earthquakes, which occurred off the coast of Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia in 1737, 1923 and 1952, were megathrust earthquakes and caused tsunamis." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamchatka_earthquakes)
 

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Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
What's interesting is that that area of the world is pretty geologicially stable, despite being close to the "Ring of Fire". In fact, the plate boundary shown passing up through Siberia is only a guess; no one really knows exactly where it is because it hasn't ever done anything notable.

According to this page on USGS, the area is quite active :confused: Or at least an area very close by.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000h4jh#summary
(fair use applies)

Tectonic Summary
Seismotectonics of the Kuril-Kamchatka Arc

The Kuril-Kamchatka arc extends approximately 2,100 km from Hokkaido, Japan, along the Kuril Islands and the Pacific coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula to its intersection with the Aleutian arc near the Commander Islands, Russia. It marks the region where the Pacific plate subducts into the mantle beneath the Okhotsk microplate, part of the larger North America plate. This subduction is responsible for the generation of the Kuril Islands chain, active volcanoes located along the entire arc, and the deep offshore Kuril-Kamchatka trench. Relative to a fixed North America plate, the Pacific plate is moving towards the northwest at a rate that increases from 75 mm/year near the northern end of the arc to 83 mm/year in the south.

Plate motion is predominantly convergent along the Kuril-Kamchatka arc with obliquity increasing towards the southern section of the arc. The subducting Pacific plate is relatively old, particularly adjacent to Kamchatka where its age is greater than 100 Ma. Consequently, the Wadati-Benioff zone is well defined to depths of approximately 650 km. The central section of the arc is comprised of an oceanic island arc system, which differs from the continental arc systems of the northern and southern sections. Oblique convergence in the southern Kuril arc results in the partitioning of stresses into both trench-normal thrust earthquakes and trench-parallel strike-slip earthquakes, and the westward translation of the Kuril forearc. This westward migration of the Kuril forearc currently results in collision between the Kuril arc in the north and the Japan arc in the south, resulting in the deformation and uplift of the Hidaka Mountains in central Hokkaido.

The Kuril-Kamchatka arc is considered one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Deformation of the overriding North America plate generates shallow crustal earthquakes, whereas slip at the subduction zone interface between the Pacific and North America plates generates interplate earthquakes that extend from near the base of the trench to depths of 40 to 60 km. At greater depths, Kuril-Kamchatka arc earthquakes occur within the subducting Pacific plate and can reach depths of approximately 650 km.

This region has frequently experienced large (M>7) earthquakes over the past century. Since 1900, seven great earthquakes (M8.3 or larger) have also occurred along the arc, with mechanisms that include interplate thrust faulting, and intraplate faulting. Damaging tsunamis followed several of the large interplate megathrust earthquakes. These events include the February 3, 1923 M8.4 Kamchatka, the November 6,1958 M8.4 Etorofu, and the September 25, 2003 M8.3 Hokkaido earthquakes. A large M8.5 megathrust earthquake occurred on October 13, 1963 off the coast of Urup, an island along the southern Kuril arc, which generated a large tsunami in the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk, and caused run-up wave heights of up to 4-5 m along the Kuril arc. The largest megathrust earthquake to occur along the entire Kurile-Kamchatka arc in the 20th century was the November 4, 1952 M9.0 event. This earthquake was followed by a devastating tsunami with run-up wave heights as high as 12 m along the coast of Paramushir, a small island immediately south of Kamchatka, causing significant damage to the city of Severo-Kurilsk.

On October 4,1994, a large (M8.3) intraplate event occurred within the subducted oceanic lithosphere off the coast of Shikotan Island causing intense ground shaking, landslides, and a tsunami with run-up heights of up to 10 m on the island.

The most recent megathrust earthquake in the region was the November 15, 2006 M8.3 Kuril Island event, located in the central section of the arc. Prior to this rupture, this part of the subduction zone had been recognized as a seismic gap spanning from the northeastern end of the 1963 rupture zone to the southwestern end of the 1952 rupture. Two months after the 2006 event, a great (M8.1) normal faulting earthquake occurred on January 13, 2007 in the adjacent outer rise region of the Pacific plate. It has been suggested that the 2007 event may have been caused by the stresses generated from the 2006 earthquake.

image from
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/tectonic/images/kuril_tsum.pdf
(fair use applies)
 

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Lilbitsnana

On TB every waking moment
Upgraded to an 8.3


M8.3 - Sea of Okhotsk 2013-05-24 05:44:49 UTC

Location and Magnitude contributed by: USGS, NEIC, Golden, Colorado (and predecessors)
Powered by Leaflet

54.874°N, 153.281°E
Depth: 608.9km (378.4mi)


Event Time
2013-05-24 05:44:49 UTC
2013-05-24 15:44:49 UTC+10:00 at epicenter
2013-05-24 00:44:49 UTC-05:00 system time

Location
54.874°N 153.281°E depth=608.9km (378.4mi)

Nearby Cities
362km (225mi) WSW of Esso, Russia
383km (238mi) WNW of Yelizovo, Russia
400km (249mi) NW of Vilyuchinsk, Russia
406km (252mi) WNW of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
2374km (1475mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan
 

USDA

Veteran Member
The problem of this a quake this size is that it might shake loose the shaky supports for the fuel pools in Fukushima....which contain more and will release more radiation into the atmosphere and sea than Chernobyl and the atomic bombing of Japan in WW II and then some.

Nothing, that I have noticed on the web, even from the Japanese web sites ENE news etc that monitor the disaster. If the fuel pools empty their water, the rods will catch fire and water will not, at that point, put them out.

The entire Northern Hemisphere would be in deadly tide of drifting radiation in air and sea.
 

turtlegent

Contributing Member
Aloha All
I started to read and worry about the possible tsunami, then I remembered, we have finished the move to Idaho, and not to worry about it any more.
turtlegent
Aloha from Idaho
 

Mzkitty

I give up.
Wow, that was some earthquake!

Update: Tremors were felt in central Moscow, prompting some people to evacuate from buildings - @AP

4 hours ago by editor
 

tanstaafl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
That is an awful lot of swaying in Moscow for an earthquake on the Pacific coast.

I think the key here is that the earthquake was 375 miles under the seafloor. Seismic waves travel a lot further when they're really deep -- remember, they use these things to get an idea what the inside of the PLANET looks like. Remember also that seismic waves travel MUCH faster in rock (15,840-26,400 ft/sec) than sound does in seawater (4,900 ft/sec) or air (1,128 ft/sec).
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
I read this and wonder if the earth is about to rip asunder? That was one heck of a deep quake and was felt over what thousands of miles? how far is the epicenter from Moscow?
 

Hacker

Computer Hacking Pirate
I think the key here is that the earthquake was 375 miles under the seafloor. Seismic waves travel a lot further when they're really deep -- remember, they use these things to get an idea what the inside of the PLANET looks like. Remember also that seismic waves travel MUCH faster in rock (15,840-26,400 ft/sec) than sound does in seawater (4,900 ft/sec) or air (1,128 ft/sec).

I don't know a lot about how the Earth is constructed. But I wonder if this is deeper than the depth of the tectonic plate(s). If so, this is truly ominous.
 

Lilbitsnana

On TB every waking moment
I don't know a lot about how the Earth is constructed. But I wonder if this is deeper than the depth of the tectonic plate(s). If so, this is truly ominous.

Excerpt from post #7 above:

Plate motion is predominantly convergent along the Kuril-Kamchatka arc with obliquity increasing towards the southern section of the arc. The subducting Pacific plate is relatively old, particularly adjacent to Kamchatka where its age is greater than 100 Ma. Consequently, the Wadati-Benioff zone is well defined to depths of approximately 650 km. The central section of the arc is comprised of an oceanic island arc system, which differs from the continental arc systems of the northern and southern sections. Oblique convergence in the southern Kuril arc results in the partitioning of stresses into both trench-normal thrust earthquakes and trench-parallel strike-slip earthquakes, and the westward translation of the Kuril forearc. This westward migration of the Kuril forearc currently results in collision between the Kuril arc in the north and the Japan arc in the south, resulting in the deformation and uplift of the Hidaka Mountains in central Hokkaido.

The Kuril-Kamchatka arc is considered one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Deformation of the overriding North America plate generates shallow crustal earthquakes, whereas slip at the subduction zone interface between the Pacific and North America plates generates interplate earthquakes that extend from near the base of the trench to depths of 40 to 60 km
. At greater depths, Kuril-Kamchatka arc earthquakes occur within the subducting Pacific plate and can reach depths of approximately 650 km.
 
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