Earthquakes hit Kuril Islands

On Sunday, two earthquakes hit Kuril Islands in the Russian Far East. The first quake of 5.6 point magnitude on the Richter scale was recorded near the island of Paramushir, says seismological station in the city of Severo-Kurilsk. Glass-ware ringed in cupboards for ten seconds, and ceiling lamps rocked.

The second earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 points in Richter scale took place in the deep-water Kurilo-Kamchatka trench. The epicenter was located 270 kilometers east of the city of Kurilsk on the island of Iturup.

There was no tsunami warning.

TASS

Four more tremors at Song Tranh hydro-power plant

 VietNamNet Bridge – In the morning of September 6, thousands of residents of Bac Tra My district, Quang Nam province, panicked because of four consecutive quakes up to 3.4 on the Richter scale. In the last four days, this region suffered from 12 quakes.

Quang Nam: Six earthquakes near hydro-power plant
Earthquakes in Quang Nam have no relation to volcanoes
Quang Nam: in powerful earthquakes, hydro-power plant will create a disaster

Song Tranh 2 dam.

While attending a ceremony to see recruits off, many officials of Bac Tra My district heard big explosions in the earth and fell tremors.

“After the explosion, the ground shook and my car was also shaken,” said Ms. Dung, a district official.

Mr. Tran Van Anh in Phuoc Hiep commune, Phuoc Son district, where is very close to Song Tranh 2 hydro-power plant, said: “At 7.20am, when I was drinking tea with my neighbors, an underground blast exploded. After that the ground shook strongly. We had to run out of the house immediately.”

In Hiep Duc and Nam Tra My districts, hundreds of people fled from their houses because of underground blasts and tremors in the early morning.

The Geo-physic Institute verified that four quakes occurred near the Song Tranh 2 plant in the morning of September 6. The strongest tremor is 3.4 Richter and its epicenter was in Phuoc Hiep commune, which is very close to Song Tranh 2.

According to the institute’s statistics, up to 58 tremors were recorded around Song Tranh 2 plant over the last year. From September 3-6, up to 12 quakes occurred. The strongest tremor was 4.2 Richter. Tremors may come from the Tra Bong or Hung Nhuong-Ta Vi faults, around 3km from Song Tranh 2 dam.

According to a research work by the Geophysics Institute, Song Tranh 2 hydro-power plant is built on the weak layer of the earth’s crust. If strong earthquakes occur, they will cause danger for both the plant and people in the downstream area.

According to the Institute of Science and Technology of Vietnam’s initial conclusion, underground explosions in the region were caused by reservoir induced earthquakes of 3-4 Richter scale from the fault on the left bank of Tranh River.

The capacity of Song Tranh hydro-power plant’s reservoir is over 730 million of cubic meters, which is located over 100m higher than the downstream area. Experts worry that if the dam is broken, it will cause disaster to the downstream region. It is predicted that the reservoir can cause maximal earthquake of up to 5.5 Richter scale.

Prof. Cao Dinh Trieu from the Geophysics Institute says it needs to set up five fixed quake observing stations around the Song Tranh hydro-power plant.

Compiled by Le Ha

LISS – Live Internet Seismic Server

GSN Stations

These data update automatically every 30 minutes. Last update: September 11, 2012 03:18:49 UTC

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Volcanic craters at Santorini. Image Wikipedia. A new survey suggests that the chamber of molten rock beneath Santorini’s volcano expanded 10-20 million cubic metres – up to 15 times the size of London’s Olympic Stadium – between January 2011 and April 2012. Ads by Google $1249+ Austin Laser Lipo – Get a Free Liposuction Consult. Liposuction Financing is Available. – SonoBelloAustin.com/Liposuction The growth of this ‘balloon’ of magma has seen the surface of the island rise 8-14 centimetres during this period, a team led by Oxford University scientists has found. The results come from an expedition, funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, which used satellite radar images and Global Positioning System receivers (GPS) that can detect movements of the Earth’s surface of just a few millimetres. The findings are helping scientists to understand more about the inner workings of the volcano which had its last major explosive eruption 3,600 years ago, burying the islands of Santorini under metres of pumice. However, it still does not provide an answer to the biggest question of all: ‘when will the volcano next erupt?’ A report of the research appears in this week’s Nature Geoscience. In January 2011, a series of small earthquakes began beneath the islands of Santorini. Most were so small they could only be detected with sensitive seismometers but it was the first sign of activity beneath the volcano to be detected for 25 years. Following the earthquakes Michelle Parks, an Oxford University DPhil student, spotted signs of movement of the Earth’s surface on Santorini in satellite radar images. Oxford University undergraduate students then helped researchers complete a new survey of the island. Michelle Parks of Oxford University’s Department of Earth Sciences, an author of the paper, said: ‘During my field visits to Santorini in 2011, it became apparent that many of the locals were aware of a change in the behaviour of their volcano. The tour guides, who visit the volcano several times a day, would update me on changes in the amount of strong smelling gas being released from the summit, or changes in the colour of the water in some of the bays around the islands. On one particular day in April 2011, two guides told me they had felt an earthquake while they were on the volcano and that the motion of the ground had actually made them jump. Locals working in restaurants on the main island of Thera became aware of the increase in earthquake activity due to the vibration and clinking of glasses in their bars.’ Ads by Google Ground Penetrating Radar – Nationwide Ground Penetrating Radar Service – http://www.nationalgpr.com Dr Juliet Biggs of Bristol University, also an author of the paper, said: ‘People were obviously aware that something was happening to the volcano, but it wasn’t until we saw the changes in the GPS, and the uplift on the radar images that we really knew that molten rock was being injected at such a shallow level beneath the volcano. Many volcanologists study the rocks produced by old eruptions to understand what happened in the past, so it’s exciting to use cutting-edge satellite technology to link that to what’s going on in the volcanic plumbing system right now.’ Professor David Pyle of Oxford University’s Department of Earth Sciences, an author of the paper, said: ‘For me, the challenge of this project is to understand how the information on how the volcano is behaving right now can be squared with what we thought we knew about the volcano, based on the studies of both recent and ancient eruptions. There are very few volcanoes where we have such detailed information about their past history.’ The team calculate that the amount of molten rock that has arrived beneath Santorini in the past year is the equivalent of about 10-20 years growth of the volcano. But this does not mean that an eruption is about to happen: in fact the rate of earthquake activity has dropped off in the past few months. More information: A report of this research, entitled ‘Evolution of Santorini Volcano dominated by episodic and rapid fluxes of melt from depth’, is published in the journal Nature Geosience on Sunday 09 September. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1562 Journal reference: Nature Geoscience search and more info website Provided by Oxford University search and more info website

Dinosaur die-out may have been the second of two massive extinctions: Researchers believe huge underwater volcanoes ‘killed off all the sea-life first’

By Eddie Wrenn
Popular opinion holds that an asteroid struck the Earth 65million years ago, hustling out the Age of Dinosaurs and allowing the mammals – us – to rise.

But new research now paints another picture – with the University of Washington indicating that a separate extinction came shortly first, triggered by volcanic eruptions that warmed the planet and killed life on the ocean floor.

They suggest that by the time of the asteroid impact, life on the seafloor – mostly species of clams and snails – was already perishing, because of the effects of huge volcanic eruptions on the Deccan Plateau, in what is now India.

The well-known dinosaur extinction event is believed to have been triggered by an asteroid at least six miles in diameter slamming into Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

Thomas Tobin, a UW doctoral student in Earth and space sciences, said: ‘The eruptions started 300,000 to 200,000 years before the impact, and they may have lasted 100,000 years.’

During the earlier extinction it was primarily life on the ocean floor that died, in contrast to the later extinction triggered by the asteroid impact, which appeared to kill many more free-swimming species.

The eruptions would have filled the atmosphere with fine particles, or aerosols, that initially cooled the planet.

But, more importantly, the eruptions also would have spewed carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to produce long-term warming that led to the first of the two mass extinctions.

Tobin said: ‘The aerosols are active on a year to 10-year time scale, while the carbon dioxide has effects on a scale of hundreds to tens of thousands of years.

‘The species in the first event are extinct but the groups are all recognisable things you could find around on a beach today,’ he said.

Tobin is the lead author of a paper in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology that documents results of research conducted in a fossil-rich area on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula.

That particular area has very thick sediment deposits and, for a given interval of time, might contain 10 times more sediment as the well-known Hell Creek Formation in Montana. That means scientists have much greater detail as they try to determine what was happening at the time, Tobin said.

The researchers took small surface core samples from rocks and fossils in the Antarctic sediment and used a method called magnetostratigraphy, employing known changes over time in Earth’s magnetic field to determine when the fossils were deposited. The thicker sediment allowed dating to be done more precisely.

‘I think the evidence we have from this location is indicative of two separate events, and also indicates that warming took place,’ Tobin said.

There is no direct evidence yet that the first extinction event had any effect on the second, but Tobin believes it is possible that surviving species from the first event were compromised enough that they were unable to survive the long-term environmental effects of the asteroid impact.

‘It seems improbable to me that they are completely independent events,’ he added.

11.09.2012

Volcano Eruption

Nicaragua

Chinandega Department, [ San Cristobal volcano]

From Yomiuri Shinbun (9/6/2012):

福島第一の注水量低下、配管の削りかすが原因か

Decrease in the amount of water injected [into the reactor] caused by shavings from the pipes?

福島第一原子力発電所１～３号機の原子炉を冷やす注水量が必要量を下回った問題で、東京電力は６日、ポリエチレン製配管の削りかすが弁や配管などに詰まった可能性が高いと発表した。

TEPCO announced on September 6 that it was likely that the shavings from the polyethylene pipes were clogging up the valves and pipes and causing the amounts of water injected into the reactors at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant to fall below the necessary amounts for cooling.

東電はこれまで、鉄さびが配管につまった可能性を示唆していたが、注水量の低下は、処理した汚染水を冷却用タンクに移す全長２・７キロ・メートルの配管 を８月３０日にポリ塩化ビニール製からポリエチレン製（直径１５センチ・メートル）に切り替えた後に起こったことを重視。削りかすは配管の切断作業などで 出たとみられる。タンク内や、冷却装置のフィルター部分からは、削りかすとみられる白い物質が見つかっている。

TEPCO had hinted at the possibility of metal rust clogging the pipes. However, the company thought it important that the problem started to happen after August 30, when the 2.7-kilometer pipes that transport the treated water to the cooling tanks were switched from polyvinyl chloride pipes [probably Kanaflex] to polyethylene pipes (15 centimeter in diameter). The shavings are considered to have been generated when the pipes were being cut. White substances that looks like the shavings have been found inside the [buffer] tank and on the filter of the cooling equipment.

If it is true, I don’t know what to say, other than that TEPCO is fast running out of money and quality subcontractors. This is decidedly not the “nuclear plant” spec.

The mayor of a big city in Kanagawa Prefecture declares eating food containing radioactive cesium in the school lunches is part of children’s education. A large city in Fukushima Prefecture in the highly contaminated Nakadori (middle third) refuses to install air conditioning systems in the city’s public schools because children should not miss the opportunity to learn about global warming. A city in Tokyo has just started feeding children with milk from Fukushima for their school lunch program. A professor in a college in Shizuoka Prefecture with the PhD in tourism sends her students to Fukushima to buy Fukushima produce and goods to dispel “baseless rumors”.

It is worse than the worst that Professor Kunihiko Takeda of Chubu University feared exactly a year ago, with his short poetic prose titled “A girl doesn’t talk“; he pleaded with teachers and educators to do all they could to protect children. His plea has fallen on totally deaf ears, and here we are. This has got to be the end.

First, for Takao Abe, Mayor of Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture, making children eat food that has been proven to contain radioactive cesium of Fukushima origin is nothing but highly educational, and the parents should just shut up (Tokyo Shinbun 9/5/2012):

Mayor Takao Abe said during the regular press conference on September 4 that it was important for children to learn that they were living in dangers, and that he would continue to use the frozen oranges from Kanagawa and canned apples from Yamagata that were found with radioactive cesium in the school lunches in the elementary schools in Kawasaki City, emphasizing the educational aspect of using food [known to be contaminated with radioactive cesium].

According to the city’s inspection, 9.1 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium was found in the frozen oranges [from Kanagawa], and 1.6 Bq/kg in the canned apple [from Aomori]. However, since the levels are below the national safety limit (100 Bq/kg) the city has been serving the frozen oranges in the school lunches since April this year. The city will start using the canned apple in September.

When asked about Yokohama City and Kamakura City not using the frozen oranges, Mayor Abe responded, “It is a mistake to teach children to be afraid of such a trivial level [of radioactive cesium].” He further commented, “On the road, there is a danger of being hit by a car. A total stranger may stab you. Do you teach children not to walk past a stranger?”

There are parents who are not convinced, but to them, the mayor said, “Don’t be a chicken.”

Mayor Abe was born and raised in Fukushima, by the way. But that has nothing to do with anything, right?

Koriyama City in high-radiation Nakadori of Fukushima Prefecture refused to install air conditioning systems in the city’s schools because it was important for children to suffer to learn about “ecology” (tweet from one of my followers, about an NHK program on the topic):

郡山の学校、エアコン設置が認められないと、6月東電説明会でもあった。教育委員会からも「こどもにエコを学ばせたい」と言われたとのこと。先の動画から。放射能汚染と猛暑の中の児童を心配する親からの嘆願を、市議会も東電も教育委員会も却下。

They don’t allow installation of air conditioning systems in schools in Koriyama City. It was talked about in the meeting with TEPCO in June. The city’s Board of Education also said [to the parents], “We want children to learn ecology.” From the video. The Koriyama City Assembly, TEPCO, and Board of Education all turned down the petition from the parents who worried about their children in the radiation contamination and the severe heat of the summer.

When the Japanese say “ecology“, all they mean is “energy-saving to prevent global warming“. Global warming.

Then, it is more important for Fuchu City in western Tokyo to help Fukushima recover from the “baseless rumors” than protecting children from potentially contaminated food; or good deal with a major milk supplier (Snow Brand Megmilk) cannot be ditched (the link goes to a page with the handout from the Board of Education). The latter, more likely. So, starting September 10, Fuchu City’s milk from Snow Brand Megmilk will contain milk from Fukushima, in addition to Kanagawa, Chiba, Tochigi, Gunma, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata, Aomori. In for a penny, in for a pound, or literally, “Eat poison, lick the platter that serves the poison”.

And lastly, Professor Akane Okubo got her PhD in tourism (I never heard of such a thing until I checked her bio), and teaches at Fuji Tokoha University in Shizuoka Prefecture while she continue to work for the research institute of Japan Travel Bureau (JTB), one of the largest tour operators in Japan. In the past, she worked for another tourism outfit (Jalan). How does she educate her students? By sending them off to Fukushima to buy up produce and goods in Fukushima to counter “baseless rumors”. She must have gotten a lucrative grant from the national government for her “research”. From Yomiuri Shinbun (9/10/2012):

大久保教授は「地元の人に話を聞いて、自分で何ができるか考えることが重要。風評被害の払拭に少しでも役に立てれば」と話した。

Professor Okubo said, “It is important for the student to listen to the local people and to think about what they can do. We would like to do any small thing to help dispel baseless rumors.”

Now that’s unintentionally funny. “Japanese university students” and “think” clearly don’t go together.

The pace of descending into deeper and deeper lunacy seems to be accelerating in Japan. Maybe this is what people must have felt like in the 1930s, right before the last world war.

Jawhar taluka experiences heavy rains, loud noises and ‘tremors’

Heavy rains washed away a culvert at Takav in Chelavali region of Palghar taluka as people residing near rivers and creeks here shifted to safer locations, the district control room said.

Meanwhile, geological experts visited Jawhar on Monday to study so called ‘tremors’ in the

area and submit their report to the collector directly.The Thane district additional collector Ashok Shingare told PTI that told this correspondent that the intensity of loud sounds were on the rise causing concern among citizens.

Seismologists from IMB Mumbai and Pune as well other experts will also be visiting Jawhar on Tuesday to study the situation, he said.

For the past ten days, Jawhar town’s residents have been running out of their houses after hearing mysterious loud sounds like ‘tremors’ throughout the day on Monday.

The Jawhar municipal council also announced that there was no cause for fear and people should not panic, after they complained of their cots, vessels and even the walls, windows, tables and chairs shaking badly due to ‘tremors’, though walls have not developed any cracks.

The Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) state unit secretary Advocate Rajaram Mukne told PTI that there were at least seven ‘tremors’ accompanies by loud sounds.

Jawhar MLA Chintaman Wanga who represents the area also told PTI that locals are of the opinion that these were ‘tremors’.

6 killed in Maharashtra downpour; heavy rains likely for next 2 days