Latest news with #Finley
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Say A Major Earthquake Fault Line Is Waking Up
Small recreational vehicle driving the Dempster Highway near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. Credit - Robert Postma/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group—Getty Images High up in Canada's Yukon Territory, a seismic gun is being cocked and aimed at the little community of Dawson City—population 1,600. If a new study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters is correct, that town or one of many others in the region could be rocked by a major earthquake pretty much at any moment. The source of the danger is a 1,000 km (620 mi.) formation known as the Tintina fault that cuts northwest across the Yukon and terminates in Alaska. It has been mostly still for the past 12,000 years but appears to be getting ready to lurch to life. 'Over the past couple of decades there have been a few small earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4 detected along the Tintina Fault, but nothing to suggest it is capable of large ruptures,' said Theron Finley, a recent PhD graduate at Canada's University of Victoria and the lead author of the study, in a statement. That's not the full story, though, Finley says. What the last few decades suggest and what the geological record now shows are two different things—and according to the paper, Tintina is a lot more menacing than it seems. What caught the interest of Finley and his colleagues is a 130-km (80 mi.) segment of the fault that runs near Dawson City, with surface features suggesting that numerous large earthquakes occurred in relatively recent geological history—during the Quaternary Period, which runs from 2.6 million years ago to the present. To get a better understanding, the researchers used an existing library of high-resolution imagery from airplanes, satellites, and drones, some of them captured by lidar—which uses pulsed laser emissions to produce 3D maps of the surface. This allowed them to study that stretch of the fault in unprecedented detail—and find a number of geological secrets hiding in plain sight. At one point in the Tintina segment, they discovered a fault scarp—or a ridged crack in the surface—where the land broke and shifted by 1,000 m (3,280 ft.). That is a clear fingerprint of an earthquake, one that, according to the rounding and wear and sloping of the scarp, occurred about 2.6 million years ago. At another spot they found another scarp, misaligned by a more modest 75 m (250 ft.), that they estimate to have been caused by a smaller but still considerable quake that occurred about 132,000 years ago. No evidence of significant quakes turned up at any time in the past 12,000 years, meaning Tintina has been relatively stable throughout the entirety of the Holocene Epoch, which runs from 11,700 years ago to the present. But for modern day folks living in Dawson and elsewhere, that recent period of quiescence is actually bad news. Just because a fault isn't causing quakes doesn't mean it isn't on the move. Finley and his colleagues estimate that Tintina is moving and accumulating strain on the order of 0.2 mm to 0.8 mm a year. Over the course of 12,000 years, those millimeters add up, and when the strain is suddenly released—which it ultimately must be—the result will not be pretty. "We determined that future earthquakes on the Tintina fault could exceed magnitude 7.5,' said Finley in a statement. 'Based on the data, we think that the fault may be at a relatively late stage of a seismic cycle, having accrued a slip deficit, or build-up of strain, of six metres [20 ft] in the last 12,000 years. If this were to be released, it would cause a significant earthquake.' The estimated 7.5 magnitude of the quake would put it on a scale with some of history's bigger temblors, including China's 1976 Tangshan event which claimed an estimated 240,000 to 650,000 lives; and the 2020 Haiti quake, which killed 300,000. The Yukon Territory is much more sparsely populated than Tangshen or Haiti, meaning fewer casualties. Still, there would quite likely be deaths, along with damage to local highways, mines, and other infrastructure. The area is also prone to landslides which could be triggered by a quake. 'Our results,' the researchers wrote, 'have significant implications for seismic hazard in the Yukon Territory and neighboring Alaska. If 12,000 years have elapsed since the last major earthquake, the fault may be at an advanced stage of strain accumulation.' It is impossible to know exactly when that strain will be released, of course—one of the things that makes seismology such a confounding science. The best the scientists can do is warn locals of the long term risks and leave them to prepare go bags, survival kits, and evacuation plans. The Earth will quake at will; we can only react. Write to Jeffrey Kluger at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Say A Major Earthquake Fault Line Is Waking Up
Small recreational vehicle driving the Dempster Highway near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. Credit - Robert Postma/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group—Getty Images High up in Canada's Yukon Territory, a seismic gun is being cocked and aimed at the little community of Dawson City—population 1,600. If a new study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters is correct, that town or one of many others in the region could be rocked by a major earthquake pretty much at any moment. The source of the danger is a 1,000 km (620 mi.) formation known as the Tintina fault that cuts northwest across the Yukon and terminates in Alaska. It has been mostly still for the past 12,000 years but appears to be getting ready to lurch to life. 'Over the past couple of decades there have been a few small earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4 detected along the Tintina Fault, but nothing to suggest it is capable of large ruptures,' said Theron Finley, a recent PhD graduate at Canada's University of Victoria and the lead author of the study, in a statement. That's not the full story, though, Finley says. What the last few decades suggest and what the geological record now shows are two different things—and according to the paper, Tintina is a lot more menacing than it seems. What caught the interest of Finley and his colleagues is a 130-km (80 mi.) segment of the fault that runs near Dawson City, with surface features suggesting that numerous large earthquakes occurred in relatively recent geological history—during the Quaternary Period, which runs from 2.6 million years ago to the present. To get a better understanding, the researchers used an existing library of high-resolution imagery from airplanes, satellites, and drones, some of them captured by lidar—which uses pulsed laser emissions to produce 3D maps of the surface. This allowed them to study that stretch of the fault in unprecedented detail—and find a number of geological secrets hiding in plain sight. At one point in the Tintina segment, they discovered a fault scarp—or a ridged crack in the surface—where the land broke and shifted by 1,000 m (3,280 ft.). That is a clear fingerprint of an earthquake, one that, according to the rounding and wear and sloping of the scarp, occurred about 2.6 million years ago. At another spot they found another scarp, misaligned by a more modest 75 m (250 ft.), that they estimate to have been caused by a smaller but still considerable quake that occurred about 132,000 years ago. No evidence of significant quakes turned up at any time in the past 12,000 years, meaning Tintina has been relatively stable throughout the entirety of the Holocene Epoch, which runs from 11,700 years ago to the present. But for modern day folks living in Dawson and elsewhere, that recent period of quiescence is actually bad news. Just because a fault isn't causing quakes doesn't mean it isn't on the move. Finley and his colleagues estimate that Tintina is moving and accumulating strain on the order of 0.2 mm to 0.8 mm a year. Over the course of 12,000 years, those millimeters add up, and when the strain is suddenly released—which it ultimately must be—the result will not be pretty. "We determined that future earthquakes on the Tintina fault could exceed magnitude 7.5,' said Finley in a statement. 'Based on the data, we think that the fault may be at a relatively late stage of a seismic cycle, having accrued a slip deficit, or build-up of strain, of six metres [20 ft] in the last 12,000 years. If this were to be released, it would cause a significant earthquake.' The estimated 7.5 magnitude of the quake would put it on a scale with some of history's bigger temblors, including China's 1976 Tangshan event which claimed an estimated 240,000 to 650,000 lives; and the 2020 Haiti quake, which killed 300,000. The Yukon Territory is much more sparsely populated than Tangshen or Haiti, meaning fewer casualties. Still, there would quite likely be deaths, along with damage to local highways, mines, and other infrastructure. The area is also prone to landslides which could be triggered by a quake. 'Our results,' the researchers wrote, 'have significant implications for seismic hazard in the Yukon Territory and neighboring Alaska. If 12,000 years have elapsed since the last major earthquake, the fault may be at an advanced stage of strain accumulation.' It is impossible to know exactly when that strain will be released, of course—one of the things that makes seismology such a confounding science. The best the scientists can do is warn locals of the long term risks and leave them to prepare go bags, survival kits, and evacuation plans. The Earth will quake at will; we can only react. Write to Jeffrey Kluger at
Time Magazine
3 days ago
- Science
- Time Magazine
Scientists Say A Major Earthquake Fault Line Is Waking Up
High up in Canada's Yukon Territory, a seismic gun is being cocked and aimed at the little community of Dawson City—population 1,600. If a new study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters is correct, that town or one of many others in the region could be rocked by a major earthquake pretty much at any moment. The source of the danger is a 1,000 km (620 mi.) formation known as the Tintina fault that cuts northwest across the Yukon and terminates in Alaska. It has been mostly still for the past 12,000 years but appears to be getting ready to lurch to life. 'Over the past couple of decades there have been a few small earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4 detected along the Tintina Fault, but nothing to suggest it is capable of large ruptures,' said Theron Finley, a recent PhD graduate at Canada's University of Victoria and the lead author of the study, in a statement. That's not the full story, though, Finley says. What the last few decades suggest and what the geological record now shows are two different things—and according to the paper, Tintina is a lot more menacing than it seems. What caught the interest of Finley and his colleagues is a 130-km (80 mi.) segment of the fault that runs near Dawson City, with surface features suggesting that numerous large earthquakes occurred in relatively recent geological history—during the Quaternary Period, which runs from 2.6 million years ago to the present. To get a better understanding, the researchers used an existing library of high-resolution imagery from airplanes, satellites, and drones, some of them captured by lidar—which uses pulsed laser emissions to produce 3D maps of the surface. This allowed them to study that stretch of the fault in unprecedented detail—and find a number of geological secrets hiding in plain sight. At one point in the Tintina segment, they discovered a fault scarp—or a ridged crack in the surface—where the land broke and shifted by 1,000 m (3,280 ft.). That is a clear fingerprint of an earthquake, one that, according to the rounding and wear and sloping of the scarp, occurred about 2.6 million years ago. At another spot they found another scarp, misaligned by a more modest 75 m (250 ft.), that they estimate to have been caused by a smaller but still considerable quake that occurred about 132,000 years ago. No evidence of significant quakes turned up at any time in the past 12,000 years, meaning Tintina has been relatively stable throughout the entirety of the Holocene Epoch, which runs from 11,700 years ago to the present. But for modern day folks living in Dawson and elsewhere, that recent period of quiescence is actually bad news. Just because a fault isn't causing quakes doesn't mean it isn't on the move. Finley and his colleagues estimate that Tintina is moving and accumulating strain on the order of 0.2 mm to 0.8 mm a year. Over the course of 12,000 years, those millimeters add up, and when the strain is suddenly released—which it ultimately must be—the result will not be pretty. "We determined that future earthquakes on the Tintina fault could exceed magnitude 7.5,' said Finley in a statement. 'Based on the data, we think that the fault may be at a relatively late stage of a seismic cycle, having accrued a slip deficit, or build-up of strain, of six metres [20 ft] in the last 12,000 years. If this were to be released, it would cause a significant earthquake.' The estimated 7.5 magnitude of the quake would put it on a scale with some of history's bigger temblors, including China's 1976 Tangshan event which claimed an estimated 240,000 to 650,000 lives; and the 2020 Haiti quake, which killed 300,000. The Yukon Territory is much more sparsely populated than Tangshen or Haiti, meaning fewer casualties. Still, there would quite likely be deaths, along with damage to local highways, mines, and other infrastructure. The area is also prone to landslides which could be triggered by a quake. 'Our results,' the researchers wrote, 'have significant implications for seismic hazard in the Yukon Territory and neighboring Alaska. If 12,000 years have elapsed since the last major earthquake, the fault may be at an advanced stage of strain accumulation.' It is impossible to know exactly when that strain will be released, of course—one of the things that makes seismology such a confounding science. The best the scientists can do is warn locals of the long term risks and leave them to prepare go bags, survival kits, and evacuation plans. The Earth will quake at will; we can only react.
Economic Times
4 days ago
- Science
- Economic Times
What is the Tintina fault in Canada - nation's silent giant that could unleash massive destruction?
Live Events FAQs (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel For over 40 million years, the Tintina fault in Canada's Yukon Territory was thought to be a sleeping geological giant, as per a report. But a new study from the University of Victoria (UVic) indicates that it might not be inactive as the seismic threat could produce one of the nation's strongest earthquakes, as per a Scitechdaily almost 1,000 kilometres through northwestern Canada, the Tintina fault has slid sideways by some 450 kilometres since it formed, according to the report. Scientists thought that until recently, it had long since given up any major activity, but a new examination of the terrain around Dawson City, employing topographic data from the ArcticDEM dataset from satellite images, light detection and ranging (lidar) surveys conducted with aeroplanes and drones, has found something disturbing, as reported by latest research found that a 130-kilometre portion of the fault near Dawson City showed signs of many big earthquakes during the Quaternary Period, which spans from the past 2.6 million years to the present, as reported by Scitechdaily. This means that the fault may still be active and capable of producing significant future earthquakes, according to the Finley, a recent UVic PhD graduate and lead author of an article in Geophysical Research Letters, pointed out that 'Over the past couple of decades, there have been a few small earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4 detected along the Tintina fault, but nothing to suggest it is capable of large ruptures,' as quoted in the Scitechdaily added that 'The expanding availability of high-resolution data prompted us to re-examine the fault, looking for evidence of prehistoric earthquakes in the landscape,' as quoted in the in most of Canada, seismic hazard estimates are known with the help of historical earthquake records, such as Indigenous oral histories, archived documents, and readings from modern seismic networks, as reported by Scitechdaily. However, major faults can remain quiet for thousands of years between large earthquakes, so that means some important seismic risks may go undetected without geological investigation, as reported by the Scitechdaily Scitechdaily report explained that when earthquakes are large and/or shallow, they often rupture the Earth's surface and produce a linear feature in the landscape, which is known as a fault found ancient glacial landforms, some as old as 2.6 million years, have been pushed sideways by about 1,000 meters along the Tintina Fault, as per the report. While other formations, about 132,000 years old, were displaced by 75 meters, as reported by Scitechdaily. These shifts are signs that the fault has moved multiple times over the past few million years, each time likely slipping several meters during powerful earthquakes, according to the Scitechdaily the landforms, which are about 12,000 years old, are not offset by the fault, which shows that no large ruptures have occurred since that time, as per the report. The fault continues to accumulate strain at an average rate of 0.2 to 0.8 millimetres per year, which means that it poses a future earthquake threat, as reported by highlighted that, 'We determined that future earthquakes on the Tintina fault could exceed magnitude 7.5,' as quoted in the report. The researcher explained that, 'Based on the data, we think that the fault may be at a relatively late stage of a seismic cycle, having accrued a slip deficit, or build-up of strain, of six meters in the last 12,000 years. If this were to be released, it would cause a significant earthquake,' as quoted by the Tintina Fault were to unleash a magnitude 7.5 earthquake or anything stronger, it could shake Dawson City with serious force, with tremors that wouldn't just rattle buildings, they could disrupt major highways and threaten vital mining operations that the region relies on, as per the research suggests it might still be active, despite being considered dormant for millions of years, as per the Scitechdaily runs about 1,000 km across northwestern Canada, passing near Dawson City in the Yukon Territory, as per the Scitechdaily report.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
What is the Tintina fault in Canada - nation's silent giant that could unleash massive destruction?
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel For over 40 million years, the Tintina fault in Canada's Yukon Territory was thought to be a sleeping geological giant, as per a report. But a new study from the University of Victoria (UVic) indicates that it might not be inactive as the seismic threat could produce one of the nation's strongest earthquakes, as per a Scitechdaily almost 1,000 kilometres through northwestern Canada, the Tintina fault has slid sideways by some 450 kilometres since it formed, according to the report. Scientists thought that until recently, it had long since given up any major activity, but a new examination of the terrain around Dawson City, employing topographic data from the ArcticDEM dataset from satellite images, light detection and ranging (lidar) surveys conducted with aeroplanes and drones, has found something disturbing, as reported by latest research found that a 130-kilometre portion of the fault near Dawson City showed signs of many big earthquakes during the Quaternary Period, which spans from the past 2.6 million years to the present, as reported by Scitechdaily. This means that the fault may still be active and capable of producing significant future earthquakes, according to the Finley, a recent UVic PhD graduate and lead author of an article in Geophysical Research Letters, pointed out that 'Over the past couple of decades, there have been a few small earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4 detected along the Tintina fault, but nothing to suggest it is capable of large ruptures,' as quoted in the Scitechdaily added that 'The expanding availability of high-resolution data prompted us to re-examine the fault, looking for evidence of prehistoric earthquakes in the landscape,' as quoted in the in most of Canada, seismic hazard estimates are known with the help of historical earthquake records, such as Indigenous oral histories, archived documents, and readings from modern seismic networks, as reported by Scitechdaily. However, major faults can remain quiet for thousands of years between large earthquakes, so that means some important seismic risks may go undetected without geological investigation, as reported by the Scitechdaily Scitechdaily report explained that when earthquakes are large and/or shallow, they often rupture the Earth's surface and produce a linear feature in the landscape, which is known as a fault found ancient glacial landforms, some as old as 2.6 million years, have been pushed sideways by about 1,000 meters along the Tintina Fault, as per the report. While other formations, about 132,000 years old, were displaced by 75 meters, as reported by Scitechdaily. These shifts are signs that the fault has moved multiple times over the past few million years, each time likely slipping several meters during powerful earthquakes, according to the Scitechdaily the landforms, which are about 12,000 years old, are not offset by the fault, which shows that no large ruptures have occurred since that time, as per the report. The fault continues to accumulate strain at an average rate of 0.2 to 0.8 millimetres per year, which means that it poses a future earthquake threat, as reported by highlighted that, 'We determined that future earthquakes on the Tintina fault could exceed magnitude 7.5,' as quoted in the report. The researcher explained that, 'Based on the data, we think that the fault may be at a relatively late stage of a seismic cycle, having accrued a slip deficit, or build-up of strain, of six meters in the last 12,000 years. If this were to be released, it would cause a significant earthquake,' as quoted by the Tintina Fault were to unleash a magnitude 7.5 earthquake or anything stronger, it could shake Dawson City with serious force, with tremors that wouldn't just rattle buildings, they could disrupt major highways and threaten vital mining operations that the region relies on, as per the the Tintina Fault active?Recent research suggests it might still be active, despite being considered dormant for millions of years, as per the Scitechdaily is the Tintina Fault located?It runs about 1,000 km across northwestern Canada, passing near Dawson City in the Yukon Territory, as per the Scitechdaily report.
