Because the local factors thing isn't well understood from a physics standpoint, people analyze it statistically. So, historic earthquake data do come into play there!
Earthquake physicist in Los Angeles; uses computer models to study how faults behave/interact University of California graduate; Cal State faculty cats | homebrewing | viola, bluegrass fiddle, Javanese gamelan | D&D | ég er að læra íslensku he/him | aroace
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Because the local factors thing isn't well understood from a physics standpoint, people analyze it statistically. So, historic earthquake data do come into play there!
The time cutoff for aftershocks is based on whether activity in an area has gone back down to where it was before the big quake. The time it takes for this to happen varies a lot - sometimes based on the size of the mainshock, but also based on local factors that aren't well understood.
🧪⚒️ Today's Kamchatka M7.8 ticks all the boxes for being an aftershock of July's M8.8: 1. In the same area. 2. Smaller. 3. Activity in that area hadn't returned to pre-M8.8 levels. Aftershocks a magnitude unit below the mainshock are normal. For a huge mainshock, aftershocks can also be really big!
Please keep us updated!
This is definitely making me miss the homebrew share days!
No freakin' way.
Mantle Model https://xkcd.com/3141/ (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3141
It's only about a million years old! Just a baby!
That’s the San Jacinto Fault there! It’s much younger than the San Andreas, but the two are sharing most of the movement of the Pacific Plate along the North American Plate in southernmost California.
Come and fly along the San Andreas fault with me! 🧪
There was just a big discussion of all the research/instrumentation people would like to do around there in the next few years, since the last one was 21 years ago.
If the next Parkfield earthquake happens right after this meeting, I think everyone here is gonna laugh AND cry.
(The speaker seemed to be avoiding saying any placenames other than Grindavík though.)
Wasn’t expecting a Reykjanes Peninsula keynote talk at the Statewide California Earthquake Center meeting!
Nice gift "Plate Tectonics Flip Book" from the author Ch. Scotese to our tectonist J. Lazauskienė 😀
Angelenos: There's something you can do to help fire victims that doesn't require money (or flogging other people for money). There's a program to relocate historical houses that are going to be demolished to Altadena. But we need to know where those houses are!
I'm so so sorry!
Hjálpandi.
I wasn't involved in this paper in any way! I just thought it was interesting, hence the reskeet. I'm not sure if any of the authors are actually on Bsky!
I think it's worse than when I had it last year, but not as bad as when I had it in 2022, so I guess that's something? I'm definitely through the worst of it now either way! Thanks!
I'd be willing to bet I picked it up at ORD, on my way back from Iceland. It was so crowded and backed up in there.
Hjálpandi.
🫠
At least having covid in the two weeks right before SCEC means I won't get it at SCEC...
Oh crap!!!!
#MSH45 | May 17, 1980 ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| _ ┻┳| •.•) Got some USGS photos from the day before the blast. ┳┻|⊂ﾉ ┻┳|
Heck yeah! Congratulations!!
Perfect form, no notes.
At least 800 people have died due to a M6.0 quake in Afghanistan. (And it happened overnight for me, so I didn't hear the news until quite a bit later.)
I hate coming online to news about a really bad earthquake.
Sure looks like it to me!
Ísafjörður is great!
Dungeons and Daddies is one of my very favorites. It's about four dads from our world who have to go into the Forgotten Realms to rescue their kids. (And one of the dads is a geologist, haha.) www.dungeonsanddaddies.com
This thread is so awesome, thanks for sharing these songs! Different part of central Asia, but if you're not familiar with Otyken already, I think you'd like them based on this.
Could drought explain why the southern San Andreas fault has been quiet for more than 300 years? A new #SRL study explores this question, and more. ⚒️ pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/arti...
She knows!
How does lava sound when it comes to the surface of the Earth? Listen to a lava flow oozing out of its effusive vent high on the southwestern side of #Etna, 28 August 2025. That day no visits by tourists were allowed on the site, which permitted this (relatively) clean recording
Katla is having an eepy morning.
"poor weather" ??????? Ætti ég að sýna þeim hitastigin okkar hér í L.A.??
I knew this, but never made the connection between it and that wallpaper until now!
That marmot looks ready to throw hands with anyone who dares interrupt his chewing on the wires in people's cars...
Ég ætti að klára að lesa þessa bók!
Behold, the #MinCup35 bracket! Use it to follow along, plan campaigns to support your favs, or make predictions on how voting will shake out. We start at the top left on September 1st, then alternate left and right as we work our way down.
Askja took a selfie:
The USGS just dropped the most detailed national-scale geologic map of the country to date, and it's got us all 😍 www.usgs.gov/news/nationa...
"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?" Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.
What a huge noise from such a little baby!
Thank you!!
Is the recommendation for this year's vaccine still to wait three months after actually having covid?
Just a heads up. I was able to schedule my COVID vaccine appointment. Online it will ask “do you have a condition that puts you at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 virus.” Click yes and it will allow you to schedule an appointment. No questions asked. No proof required. Pass it on.
I'd be willing to bet I got it at O'Hare the other day, given how crowded and chaotic it was in there...
Thank you! So far, I don't feel all that bad. Just enough different from normal that I figured I should check, especially since I was just traveling...
Guess who isn't going backpacking this weekend after all because he has covid again...
New "How to Report ICE" zines up today for free printable download! California (by county/area) Chicago Colorado DC Metro Area (DMV) Massachusetts North Carolina Triangle Area NYC Philly Pittsburgh Portland, OR St. Louis Metro Area Washington State Please share! drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Taken over 10 years ago, this was the most intense sunset light I've seen at Stokksnes, with Vestrahorn illuminated a crazy red/orange colour. There are fewer shadows the closer you get to mid-winter, so more light falls on the slopes facing south. #Iceland Feb 2015
Smoke from the Palisades and Eaton fires—and the dust generated in the aftermath—was uniquely dangerous. Researchers set out to understand the risks and keep community members informed. eos.org/features/whe...
I normally don't have this issue! I'm just fighting the time zones right now...
Staying awake during my own office hours is proving rough.
Rock Looked Way Cooler Wet
Starting this semester still jetlagged.....
Hahah, ég vildi að þetta veður væri aðeins 15 mínútur í einu!
42 gráður! (Ég hata þetta...)
Af hverju gerist þetta alltaf daginn eftir að ég kem aftur frá Íslandi???
I'm still kicking myself for getting confused over dates and missing Menningarnótt by one day!
Geologic Periods xkcd.com/3120/
![Comic. [3-column table with headers Period, My Favorite Part, and My Biggest Complaint] [Row 1] P: *Precambrian*, MFP: Life develops, MBC: Snowball Earth episodes [Row 2] P: Cambrian, MFP: Trilobites!, MBC: Evolution could stand to calm down a little [Row 3] P: Ordovician, MFP: Earth might have had rings, MBC: Scary volcanic eruption in North America [Row 4] P: Silurian, MFP: First land animals, MBC: Earth’s newfound mold problem [Row 5] P: Devonian, MFP: Big mountains in Boston, MBC: Yeah, sure, what those giant killer fish needed was *armor* [Row 6] P: Carboniferous, MFP: Cool forests, MBC: Bugs too big [Row 7] P: Permian, MFP: Pangea, MBC: Google “The Great Dying” [Row 8] P: Triassic, MFP: Tanystropheus [dinosaur with extremely long neck next to tiny person for scale], MBC: Damage to Canada still visible from space at Manicouagan [Row 9] P: Jurassic, MFP: Birds, MBC: Parasitoid wasps [Row 10] P: Cretaceous, MFP: Raptors, MBC: Raptors [Row 11] P: Paleogene, MFP: Pretty horseys!!!, MBC: Paleocene-eocene thermal maximum [Row 12] P: Neogene, MFP: Forests of *Dracaena* Dragonblood Trees, MBC: Zanclean Flood [Row 13] P: Quaternary, MFP: Burrito invented, MBC: Whoever picked this name for the third period of the Cenozoic](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifyh56h2dhfnxxuarc6hspobseq6jzurt7mnkuo3dkvlkyrw6e76i@jpeg "Click to view full size")
KEF —> ORD —> LAX This is the flight I finally got from fighting with United for nearly a year over a credit from last summer. Let’s see if it actually does what it’s supposed to…
Mig langar ekki að fara aftur til Bandaríkjanna…
There have been a lot more cats; will update soon!
Probably not? It’s just a geology department seminar, but maybe they do record them?
I'm giving a research talk at the University of Iceland in a couple of hours!
OMG, geggjað!! Hvenær get ég heyrt þessa plötu?!
Ég get ekki ákveðið liti á lopapeysur fyrir kettina mína…
The Apollo mission's latest discovery has been made - more than 50 years after it ended! A recently opened sample is revealing more about one of the Moon’s most unusual structures - the Light Mantle. Discover what's been uncovered 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
There were THREE other geophysicists at the folk music jam session tonight??!!
Yes.
This was a You Shall Not Pass (Until You Pet Me) situation. This one got up from loafing on a porch specifically to stand in my way as I was walking!
That's Katla! She certainly has enough fluff to be her own sweater. (And I did consider making her one that's in her own colors, haha.)
This calico trotted right over for a boop, then flopped over and wanted to play wrestle. Lots of big purrs!
That was a productive visit to Sweden!
I haven't tried to put clothes on Askja yet, but I made a little shirt for Katla before, and she seemed to love it. (Not sure she'd have a strong opinion about colors, though!)
I just learned about this project to publish and record a bunch of Icelandic dance and folk tunes for the fiddle! www.karolinafund.com/project/view...
Stopped to give this one a lot of pets as I was walking back from downtown last night.
Eða…ætti ég að prjóna þrílitaðar peysur fyrir þrílitaða kettir?
I am! Fiddle camp was so fun, and now I’m just hanging out in Reykjavík. (They usually do that camp in Norway and not Sweden, so maybe next year…)
Ég get ekki ákveðið liti á lopapeysur fyrir kettina mína…
Kattakaffihúsið residents! Misia slept next to my seat the whole time I was there. Sallý tried to taste my drink and then wanted me to throw her toy a few times (and therefore reminded me a lot of my Katla).
Stockholm to Reykjavík is such a cool flight path, really, since the Sweden to Norway part is a cross section of the formation and breakup of Pangea, then you head over to the modern plate boundary!
I just learned about this project to publish and record a bunch of Icelandic dance and folk tunes for the fiddle! www.karolinafund.com/project/view...
I actually gasped when I turned a corner and saw this one, haha. Do you know its name?
Not pictured: a brown tabby who seems to be a regular at Microbar, and who hopped up on a seat at the bar like he was going to order. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying getting petted by three people at once. Pictured instead: this cute little fence-peeper, who I unfortunately didn't get to pet.
I ran into Baktus within an hour or so of getting here.
It is time for the next edition of REYKJAVÍK CAT THREAD! Look at the SHAPE of this thing:
"This sign can't stop me because I can't read."
Ohh awesome, thank you!
I did choose the window seat with that in mind! (But I am also running on four hours of sleep, haha.)
I need to go back to Norway on purpose and for more than a day…
Important Stockholm-Arlanda information: there’s a wall seismogram! (I wish it said which earthquake…)
Those very obvious faults are gonna send me down an earthquake-history-of-Norway rabbit hole, I know it.
