Earthquakes • Deep Earth • Mantle Plumes • New Research New seismic images beneath Hainan Island, China reveal a hidden system linking deep mantle activity, volcanic rocks and the fault zone of the devastating 1605 Qiongbei M7.5 earthquake. Researchers think volatile-rich fluids rising from depth may have progressively weakened the crust until a major rupture […]

The post A Huge M7.5 Earthquake Struck Far From a Plate Boundary — Scientists May Have Found What Helped Trigger It appeared first on Strange Sounds.

New Zealand • Earthquakes • Subduction Zones • New Research A new high-resolution 3D model of New Zealand’s Hikurangi megathrust reveals a striking contrast beneath the North Island: the southern part of the fault is relatively smooth and strongly locked, while the rougher northern section repeatedly releases stress through slow-slip events. Buried chains of ancient […]

The post New Zealand’s Megathrust Is Hiding a Strange Split — One Side Slips Silently While the Other Stays Locked appeared first on Strange Sounds.