A M6.2 earthquake rattled Chile yesterday, apparently a delayed aftershock of the 2015 M8.3 Illapel earthquake. (Yes, aftershocks can continue for a decade or more!) In the meantime, Chile deployed a cutting-edge offshore fiber-optic system to monitor seismicity, which recorded this event! ⚒️ 🧪

8 February 1843 14:40 UT Mw8.5 earthquake, biggest known in Lesser Antilles, hit Guadeloupe, killing 1500-5000 people, four years after the M8 Martinique EQ. Felt as far as New York. doi.org/10.1029/2011... doi.org/10.1002/jgrb... gallica.bnf.fr chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

Wang, X., Huang, W., Fu, Q. et al. A new early permian fruit, Dengfengfructus maxima gen. et sp. nov., supports the pre-cretaceous origin of angiosperms. BMC Ecol Evo 26, 17 (2026). doi.org/10.1186/s128...

Let’s make these papers join a few relevant Bluesky feeds! 👇🏻 🧪 ⚒️ #PaleoSky Featuring a paleo-🌊 paper (Caley et al., 2026): doi.org/10.5194/cp-2...

This swarm in San Ramon revived yesterday, with a new burst that included a M4.2. We wrote an update, and removed the paywall from our previous post to allow broader access. If you read our posts, please consider supporting our work by becoming a paid subscriber.

⚒️ 🧪 A swarm of earthquakes has been rattling western Mindanao, the Philippines' 2nd-largest island. Some areas have been preemptively evacuated. The fault system here has a record of damaging, tsunamigenic earthquakes, and this swarm is unusual. So, what’s going on, and what can we say about hazard?

⚒️ 🧪 A M5.6 earthquake in northern Pakistan caused several buildings to collapse yesterday. How does this strike-slip event fit into the menagerie of Tibetan Plateau earthquakes? earthquakeinsights.substack.com/p/m56-earthq...

⚒️ 🧪 A M5.7 earthquake in western Japan caused minor damage yesterday, preceded by very small foreshocks in the week prior. Why did it occur here, so far from the subduction zone? What do we know about the faults in this part of Japan? And is any of this related to the nearby volcanoes?

Some good news for the new year: the Museum of the Earth has avoided foreclosure and paid off its mortgage, thanks to the generosity of donors. If you helped, either by donating or raising awareness, please accept my personal gratitude. It mattered. ❤️ And if you ever visit Ithaca, stop by!

Did you ever wonder how Kyle and I ended up where we are - independently writing Earthquake Insights, rather than employed by a university? We talk about it in this interview with Shawn Willsey on his Youtube channel, Geology Explained. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_-G...

Presenting #YOSO, the You Only Search Once method for detecting slow earthquakes. This method creates template catalogs based on automatic detection and classification of waveforms associated with seismically slow earthquakes. ⚒️ pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/arti...

🌟OPEN ACCESS🌟In a new #SRL paper, scientists from a working group explore applications of fiber-optic systems and consider obstacles and how to overcome them. ⚒️ pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/arti...

When I posted a version of this video last year, I underestimated the equivalent energy of a magnitude 9.1 earthquake relative to a nuclear blast by a factor of 10. This time I’ve quantified it using the Trinity test (as seen in the movie Oppenheimer). The 1957 underground test was 10x smaller again

For #FossilFriday today it has to be Mary Anning's 1823 near-complete Plesiosaurus. On 26 December 1823 she wrote to Sir Charles Bunbury sending a scale drawing of the specimen. This was one of several drawings she sent to potential buyers. For more check out www.researchgate.net/publication/...

👋 Meet Robert Piotrowski, geomythologist and folklorist! In this #GeoTalk, he shares how geomythology is used for science communication and education, and how it helps people engage with the geosciences. 👉 Read more: egu.eu/1ZM6KS

⚒️ 🧪 A paper in Science today highlighted a "progressive eastward rupture of the Main Marmara fault toward Istanbul." My thoughts on what a damaging Istanbul earthquake might look like, and whether recent earthquakes tell us something new, are in this article in the NYTimes:

The results are in! We have updated the post with an initial InSAR image for this earthquake, showing ground deformation in this event. Scroll to the end to find the new text with figures!

⚒️ 🧪 Japan just issued a “Subsequent Earthquake Advisory” following a M7.6 earthquake offshore Honshu. What does that mean? Also: what happened in the earthquake, and why did it trigger a tsunami evacuation, with alerts of waves “up to 3 meters high”? earthquakeinsights.substack.com/p/m76-earthq...

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck off the east coast of Aomori Prefecture in Japan, prompting tsunami advisories for parts of Honshu and Hokkaido. Japan lies in a tectonically complex area at the intersection of four tectonic plates, making it a highly seismically active area.

Information on the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Japan, including an animation showing the seismic waves as they were detected by seismometers across North America. 🧪

What’s the source for the geothermal reservoir in the Jianghan basin of central China? A new #SRL paper explores. ⚒️ pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/arti...

⚒️ 🧪 Have you been watching the little swarm of earthquakes east of San Francisco (most recently, M3.7)? Here's a map and timeline.

M 3.7 earthquake 4 km SE of San Ramon, CA. This is part of that ongoing earthquake swarm that started around Thanksgiving. Did you feel it? Report it! earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Here is the latest tsunami information for the M7.6 earthquake that just struck offshore northern Japan. The warnings are for waves up to 3 m, but the highest waves measured so far are <0.5 m. It is still possible for larger waves to arrive. 1/2 www.jma.go.jp/bosai/map.ht... ⚒️ 🧪

M 7.6 earthquake 73 km ENE of Misawa, Japan earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Yesterday, a M7.0 earthquake struck the Alaska-Canada border, directly beneath the Hubbard Glacier. Aftershocks reveal an unmapped fault in this already complex area. Read our post for more, & also: What happens when a fault offsets a glacier? Is the glacier named after one of my ancestors? ⚒️ 🧪

A M5.8 earthquake struck NW China today - an aftershock of the 2024 M7 Wushi earthquake. Although slip in the M7 mainshock did not reach the surface, a M5.7 aftershock a week later produced a remarkable surface scarp. Did the latest M5.8 do the same thing? We're waiting for data to find out. ⚒️ 🧪

M3.4 earthquake, Lancashire UK, at 23.23 UTC on 3 December 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using (from top) 'slinky', horizontal pendulum, and LEGO school seismometers #earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕 earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Understanding earthquake magnitude is simple. I don’t know why everyone is so confused 🤪

They certainly didn't chicken out! I'll see myself out. 🧪⚒️ #ak #alaska #earthquake #chickens #footage #AEC

An excellent visualization of the subduction zone up here and the location of the earthquake. Thank you for sharing @judithgeology.bsky.social! 🧪⚒️ #earthquake #alaska

⚒️ 🧪 This morning, a M6 earthquake struck at ~70 km depth near Anchorage, Alaska. Earthquakes are a regular part of life here: this is a subduction zone, with earthquakes deepening east to west. M6 earthquakes fall well within the range of "normal". USGS page: earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

🌟OPEN ACCESS🌟A Physics‐Based Study on the Correlation Between Fourier Amplitude Spectra and Deformations of a Caisson‐Type Quay Wall: To Illustrate the Utility of PSHA Based on Fourier Spectra for Assigning Seismic Actions for Geotechnical Structures #SRL ⚒️ pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/arti...

What should you do to prepare for earthquakes in Bangladesh — especially if you don’t live there anymore? I had the pleasure of chatting with Anil Wasif from BacharLorai Global, a nonprofit aimed at empowering Bangladeshis worldwide, about the recent quake, seismic hazards, and how to do better.

Some footage from Bangladesh, post M5.5 earthquake. This is probably lateral spreading and slumping associated with earthquake-triggered liquefaction. Liquefaction is a huge hazard in Bangladesh, because so many people live in low-lying areas on saturated sediments. ⚒️ 🧪

Hopefully, if this does come to pass, any new construction will take seismic risk into consideration. Tehran is an earthquake disaster waiting to happen. Retrofitting old buildings is much harder than building new ones that are more resilient.

A M5.5 earthquake killed at least ten people in Bangladesh today. What made this moderate event so deadly? And what do we know about seismic hazards in the country? ⚒️ 🧪 earthquakeinsights.substack.com/p/bangladesh...

Earthquake Insights is making *almost* $20k a year - which is simultaneously more than I ever thought it would make, and not nearly enough to raise a family. 1/5

Throwback to International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958, when WHOI leased the USCG cutter Yamacraw for acoustic studies of the N. Atlantic & Mediterranean. After the last logs were recorded, scientists & crew gathered below deck for a jam session. Let's hope the banjo didn't influence their data!

The underwater seismometer network is so great, as evidenced from yesterday's EQ off-Tohoku. Reposting unofficial visualization by x.com/kotoho76/sta...

⚒️ 🧪 A M6.8 earthquake struck offshore Japan today - another large earthquake from the subduction zone that produced two recent great earthquakes. The earthquake was preceded by a "cascade up": foreshocks progressively increasing in maximum magnitude. What do we know? What might happen next?

Fellow seismologists, we're going to get a lot of mileage out of the latest @xkcd.com

Halloween costumes to scare scientists (by @twisteddoodles.bsky.social) 🧪

⚒️ 🧪 Today, Science released a special issue about the M7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar in March. We were invited to write a perspective about the four research papers in the special issue. Find our post, including the text of our perspective, here:

⚒️ 🧪 Western Türkiye was struck by a M6 earthquake today: a triggered event, in a larger sequence that started in August with a M6.1. Both events were damaging, and the sequence raises questions about earthquake triggering, and what to expect. earthquakeinsights.substack.com/p/m60-earthq...

A Mw6.0 struck minutes ago Sındırgı, #Turkey. Was a strong shake with the suggestion of the USG an intensity of MMI VIII #EARTHQUAKE #TERREMOTO

🚨 Are you ready to ShakeOut? 🚨 This Thursday, October 16 is the the @shakeout.bsky.social, the world’s largest earthquake drill. Join millions of people worldwide as we practice the recommended safety action - Drop, Cover, and Hold on. Register at www.shakeout.org

⚒️ 🧪 A M5.7 earthquake shook the island of Cebu in the Philippines today - an aftershock of the deadly M6.9 on September 30th. Although the mainshock was strike-slip, this aftershock was a thrust - consistent with mapping of this newly discovered fault based on field studies and satellite imagery.

October 10th was marked by two M7+ earthquakes on the same day - 14,000 km apart! How unusual is that? We crunch some numbers. Also: what’s going on in the Drake Passage? 2025 has seen three mid-M7 earthquakes there, after decades of relative seismic silence. What can the limited data tell us? ⚒️ 🧪

It was a pleasure to contribute to this article, which talks about how AI contributes to seismology - indeed, we have seen tremendous progress in the use of machine learning to detect small events. 1/