Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Double trouble when 2 disasters strike electrical transmission infrastructure      (via sciencedaily.com) 

One natural disaster can knock out electric service to millions. A new study suggests that back-to-back disasters could cause catastrophic damage, but the research also identifies new ways to monitor and maintain power grids.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Research reveals magma activity beneath Mount Edgecumbe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Magma beneath long-dormant Mount Edgecumbe volcano in Southeast Alaska has been moving upward through Earth's crust, according to research the Alaska Volcano Observatory rapidly produced using a new method.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Landslides
Published

Seismic sensing reveals flood damage potential      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Rapidly evolving floods are a major and growing hazard worldwide. Currently, their onset and evolution is hard to identify using existing systems. However, seismic sensors already in place to detect earthquakes could be a solution to this problem. Researchers show that a seismometer can sense a flood, such as the devastating one that hit Germany in July 2021, up to 1.5 km away. This could act as an early warning to save lives and lessen damage. They also found that being able to measure the 'seismic footprint' of the flood provides information on its magnitude, velocity and trajectory in real time, which could be used for future flood protection.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Landslides
Published

Report shows tectonics to be main driver of hillslope 'connectivity'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new large-scale analysis of hillslope connectivity at the continental scale was recently published. The study gives new understanding of mechanisms that determine how effectively hillslopes drive floods and landslides, as well as promote the presence of wetlands.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

AI predicts physics of future fault-slip in laboratory earthquakes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An artificial-intelligence approach borrowed from natural-language processing -- much like language translation and autofill for text on your smart phone -- can predict future fault friction and the next failure time with high resolution in laboratory earthquakes. The technique, applying AI to the fault's acoustic signals, advances previous work and goes beyond by predicting aspects of the future state of the fault's physical system.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Impact that killed the dinosaurs triggered 'mega-earthquake' that lasted weeks to months      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Some 66 million years ago, a 10-kilometer asteroid hit Earth, triggering the extinction of the dinosaurs. New evidence suggests that the Chicxulub impact also triggered an earthquake so massive that it shook the planet for weeks to months after the collision. The amount of energy released in this 'mega-earthquake' is estimated at 10 to the exponent 23 joules, which is about 50,000 times more energy than was released in the magnitude 9.1 Sumatra earthquake in 2004.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Edge waves, continental shelf fueled the 2021 Acapulco Bay tsunami      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Trapped inside the shoreline of a bay, the resonant interactions of a tsunami with regular waves can prolong the tsunami disturbance. For the 2021 magnitude 7 Acapulco, Mexico earthquake and tsunami, edge waves in the bay and the short continental shelf also had a surprisingly significant effect on the tsunami's duration, according to a new study.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Deepest scientific ocean drilling sheds light on Japan's next great earthquake      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists who drilled deeper into an undersea earthquake fault than ever before have found that the tectonic stress in Japan's Nankai subduction zone is less than expected.  The findings are a puzzle but will help scientists home in on the link between tectonic forces and the earthquake cycle and potentially lead to better earthquake forecasts, both at Nankai and other megathrust faults such as Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest. The drilling reached over two miles into the Nankai subduction zone and was conducted in 2018 with the IODP scientific drilling vessel Chikyu.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Earth's newest secret: How volcanoes really work      (via sciencedaily.com) 

It isn't every day that we learn something that fundamentally changes how we understand our world. But for volcanologists across the globe, such a revelation has occurred.

Computer Science: Encryption
Published

New method to systematically find optimal quantum operation sequences for quantum computers developed      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Computer scientists have succeeded in developing a method for systematically finding the optimal quantum operation sequence for a quantum computer. They have developed a systematic method that applies optimal control theory (GRAPE algorithm) to identify the theoretically optimal sequence from among all conceivable quantum operation sequences. This method is expected to become a useful tool for medium-scale quantum computers and is expected to contribute to improving the performance of quantum computers and reducing environmental impact in the near future.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Diamonds and rust at Earth's core-mantle boundary      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists discover that a potential 'diamond factory' may have existed at Earth's core-mantle boundary for billions of years.

Computer Science: Encryption
Published

From bits to p-bits: One step closer to probabilistic computing      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have developed a mathematical description of what happens within tiny magnets as they fluctuate between states when an electric current and magnetic field are applied. Their findings could act as the foundation for engineering more advanced computers that can quantify uncertainty while interpreting complex data.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Hidden microearthquakes illuminate large earthquake-hosting faults in Oklahoma and Kansas      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using machine learning to sift through a decade's worth of seismic data, researchers have identified hundreds of thousands of microearthquakes along some previously unknown fault structures in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Wave created by Tonga volcano eruption reached 90 meters -- nine times taller than 2011 Japan tsunami      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research reveals more about the magnitude of January eruption, as researchers call for better preparedness The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in January created an initial wave 90 meters high -- almost the height of the Statue of Liberty (93m). Tsunami expert calls for better warning systems to detect volcanic eruptions, saying systems are '30 years behind' comparable earthquake detection tools.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Geological carbon sequestration in mantle rocks prevents large earthquakes in parts of the San Andreas Fault      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers say ubiquitous evidence for ongoing geological carbon sequestration in mantle rocks in the creeping sections of the San Andreas Fault is one underlying cause of aseismic creep along a roughly 150 kilometer-long SAF segment between San Juan Bautista and Parkfield, California, and along several other fault segments.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Assessing the effect of hydraulic fracturing on microearthquakes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new article assesses the impact of hydraulic fracturing on seismic hazards like micro-earthquakes, an important issue for the safety of workers and the continuation of mining operations.

Computer Science: Encryption
Published

Thinking like a cyber-attacker to protect user data      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have shown that a component of modern computer processors that enables different areas of the chip to communicate with each other is susceptible to a side-channel attack. An attacker can monitor how traffic from two different cores on a processor interferes with each other to extract secret information, like a cryptographic key.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Nanoscale observations simplify how scientists describe earthquake movement      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using single calcite crystals with varying surface roughness allows engineers to simplify the complex physics that describes fault movement. Researchers now show how this simplification may lead to better earthquake prediction.

Computer Science: Encryption Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

A key role for quantum entanglement      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A method known as quantum key distribution has long held the promise of communication security unattainable in conventional cryptography. An international team of scientists has now demonstrated experimentally, for the first time, an approach to quantum key distribution that is based on high-quality quantum entanglement -- offering much broader security guarantees than previous schemes.

Computer Science: Encryption
Published

Quantum cryptography: Hacking is futile      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team has successfully implemented an advanced form of quantum cryptography for the first time. Moreover, encryption is independent of the quantum device used and therefore even more secure against hacking attempts.