I´ve gotten abit behind on my earthquake posts, and apologize. I will try to do better.
Had a busy day - earthquakewise- earlier this week. On the night of the 15th and morning of the 16th we had at least three quakes. The first was at 10:53 p.m. on the 15th. It was a 5.0 with a depth of 39 km. At 12:16 a.m. on the 16th we had a second quake that measured 3.0 with a depth of 12 km. Both of the quakes were due to movement of a local fault. There was another quake around 4:16 a.m. that woke me up, and although the seimographs in several locations registered the tremor, there has been no official reporting of it.
In the first week of December there have been 85 tremors/quakes.
In the month of November there were 469 tremors/quakes.
Showing posts with label frequency of quakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frequency of quakes. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Earthquake in Costa Rica This Morning
Geologically speaking, it has been an exciting day so far here in Costa Rica. According to the USGS and OVSICORI (Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica) a 6.2 magnitude quake hit near the Costa Rica/Panama border, a few miles north of Puerto Armuelles, Panama, at 12:11 a.m. Location coordinates are 8.295 degrees North and 82.928 degrees West. Depth was approximately 30 miles. It lasted for over 2 minutes.
Being a geologist by profession, I checked out the seismograph reading for the 5 active volcanoes here in Costa Rica before publishing this post (which is why the post was not up earlier). Four of the five seismographs located on the volcanoes registered a quake at midnight, 11 minutes before the 6.2. Volcanoes Arenal, Rincon de la Vieja, Poas, and Irazu all had registered tremors at midnight. Volcano Turrialba did not register the earlier quake. Haven't been able to determine their magnitudes as of yet, but would make an educated guess of a high 3 or low 4. All five seismographs (Arenal, Rincon de la Vieja, Poas, Irazu, and Turrialba) all registered the 6.2 and the 4.7 that occurred around 1 a.m. Since then we have experience at least 4 more tremors: 3:38 a.m., 5 a.m., 5:53 a.m., and 7:54 a.m. (these times are approximate). These last 4 tremors, again an educated guess, were 2.5 to 4.0 in magnitude.
Someone recently asked, "How many quakes does Costa Rica have per day?" The answer is somewhere between 30 and 40 a day. Many are too light to be felt. We have somewhere between 25 to 35 large quakes per year (4.0 magnitude or above).
Blessings
Being a geologist by profession, I checked out the seismograph reading for the 5 active volcanoes here in Costa Rica before publishing this post (which is why the post was not up earlier). Four of the five seismographs located on the volcanoes registered a quake at midnight, 11 minutes before the 6.2. Volcanoes Arenal, Rincon de la Vieja, Poas, and Irazu all had registered tremors at midnight. Volcano Turrialba did not register the earlier quake. Haven't been able to determine their magnitudes as of yet, but would make an educated guess of a high 3 or low 4. All five seismographs (Arenal, Rincon de la Vieja, Poas, Irazu, and Turrialba) all registered the 6.2 and the 4.7 that occurred around 1 a.m. Since then we have experience at least 4 more tremors: 3:38 a.m., 5 a.m., 5:53 a.m., and 7:54 a.m. (these times are approximate). These last 4 tremors, again an educated guess, were 2.5 to 4.0 in magnitude.
Someone recently asked, "How many quakes does Costa Rica have per day?" The answer is somewhere between 30 and 40 a day. Many are too light to be felt. We have somewhere between 25 to 35 large quakes per year (4.0 magnitude or above).
Blessings
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