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Categories: Environmental: Wildfires, Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published Study explains unusual deformation in Earth's largest continental rift



Computer models confirm that the African Superplume is responsible for the unusual deformations, as well as rift-parallel seismic anisotropy observed beneath the East African Rift System.
Published Campi Flegrei volcano edges closer to possible eruption



The new study used a model of volcano fracturing to interpret patterns of earthquakes and ground uplift, and concluded that parts of the volcano had been stretched nearly to breaking point.
Published Bubble, bubble, more earthquake trouble? Geoscientists study Alaska's Denali fault



Geochemists report findings from collected and analyzed helium and carbon isotopic data from springs along a nearly 250-mile segment of Alaska's Denali Fault. The fault's mantle fluid flow rates, they report, fall in the range observed for the world's other major and active strike-slip faults that form plate boundaries.
Published 'Segment-jumping' ridgecrest earthquakes explored in new study



Seismologists used a powerful supercomputer that incorporated data-infused and physics-based models to identify the link between the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes.
Published Wildfire spread risk increases where trees, shrubs replace grasses



A new study found that as woody plants like shrubs and trees replace herbaceous plants like grasses, spot fires can occur farther away from the original fire perimeter.
Published Impact of ancient earthquake revealed



By combining the scientific powerhouses of genetics and geology, researchers have identified a new area of coastal uplift, which had been hiding in plain sight.
Published African smoke over the Amazon



Up to two-thirds of the soot above the central Amazon rainforest originates in Africa. Researchers differentiate soot particles using their relative properties and attribute them to their respective points of origin. They found that bush fires and burning savannah in the north and south of Africa make a substantial contribution to air pollution in the central Amazon all year round, thereby playing an important role in the earth radiation budget and water cycle. This is caused by the efficient transatlantic transport of particles through the atmosphere.
Published Scientists discover fire records embedded within sand dunes



A new study shows that sand dunes can serve as repositories of fire history and aid in expanding scientific understanding of fire regimes around the world.
Published Creating a tsunami early warning system using artificial intelligence



Researchers develop an early warning system that combines acoustic technology with AI to immediately classify earthquakes and determine potential tsunami risk. They propose using underwater microphones, called hydrophones, to measure the acoustic radiation produced by the earthquake, which carries information about the tectonic event and travels significantly faster than tsunami waves. The computational model triangulates the source of the earthquake and AI algorithms classify its slip type and magnitude. It then calculates important properties like effective length and width, uplift speed, and duration, which dictate the size of the tsunami.
Published Ridgecrest faults increasingly sensitive to solid Earth tides before earthquakes



Faults in the Ridgecrest, California area were very sensitive to solid earth tidal stresses in the year and a half before the July 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence.
Published Puerto Rico tsunami deposit could have come from pre-Columbian megathrust earthquake



Tsunami deposits identified in a coastal mangrove pond in Northwest Puerto Rico could have come from a megathrust earthquake at the Puerto Rico Trench that occurred between 1470 and 1530, according to new research.
Published Turkey's next quake: Research shows where, how bad -- but not 'when'



Using remote sensing, geophysicists have documented the massive Feb. 6 quake that killed more than 50,000 people in Eastern Turkey and toppled more than 100,000 buildings. Alarmingly, researchers found that a section of the fault remains unbroken and locked -- a sign that the plates there may, when friction intensifies, generate another magnitude 6.8 earthquake when it finally gives way.
Published New USGS-FEMA report updates economic risk from earthquakes



Even though most of the economic losses are concentrated in California and along the West Coast due to that region's high seismic hazard levels, significant population, and building exposure, earthquake risk is spread throughout the country. For example, there is a combined $3.1 billion per year in projected losses across the central U.S., Rocky Mountain region, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Published Plate tectonic processes in the Pacific and Atlantic during the Cretaceous period have shaped the Caribbean region to this day



Earthquakes and volcanism occur as a result of plate tectonics. The movement of tectonic plates themselves is largely driven by the process known as subduction. The question of how new active subduction zones come into being, however, is still under debate. An example of this is the volcanic Lesser Antilles arc in the Caribbean. A research team recently developed models that simulated the occurrences in the Caribbean region during the Cretaceous, when a subduction event in the Eastern Pacific led to the formation of a new subduction zone in the Atlantic. The computer simulations show how the collision of the old Caribbean plateau with the Greater Antilles arc contributed to the creation of this new Atlantic subduction zone. Some 86 million years ago, the triggered processes subsequently resulted in a major mantle flow and thus to the development of the Caribbean large igneous province.
Published Methane from megafires: More spew than we knew



Using a new detection method, scientists found a massive amount of methane, a super-potent greenhouse gas, coming from wildfires -- a source not currently being accounted for by California state air quality managers.
Published Wildfires and animal biodiversity



Wildfires. Many see them as purely destructive forces, disasters that blaze through a landscape, charring everything in their paths. But a new study reminds us that wildfires are also generative forces, spurring biodiversity in their wakes.
Published Warm liquid spewing from Oregon seafloor comes from Cascadia fault, could offer clues to earthquake hazards



Oceanographers discovered warm, chemically distinct liquid shooting up from the seafloor about 50 miles off Newport. They named the unique underwater spring 'Pythia's Oasis.' Observations suggest the spring is sourced from water 2.5 miles beneath the seafloor at the plate boundary, regulating stress on the offshore subduction zone fault.
Published Was plate tectonics occurring when life first formed on Earth?



Researchers used small zircon crystals to unlock information about magmas and plate tectonic activity in early Earth. The research provides chemical evidence that plate tectonics was most likely occurring more than 4.2 billion years ago when life is thought to have first formed on our planet. This finding could prove beneficial in the search for life on other planets.
Published Bushfire safe rooms may save lives


Researchers have built and tested a bushfire safe room that exceeds current Australian standards and could keep people alive or protect valuables when evacuation is no longer an option.
Published New model provides improved air-quality predictions in fire-prone areas


Globally, wildfires are becoming more frequent and destructive, generating a significant amount of smoke that can be transported thousands of miles, driving the need for more accurate air pollution forecasts. Researchers have now developed a deep learning model that provides improved predictions of air quality in wildfire-prone areas and can differentiate between wildfires and non-wildfires.