News tagged with epicenter
In Japan, seismic waves slower after rain, large earthquakes
An earthquake is first detected by the abrupt side-to-side jolt of a passing primary wave. Lagging only slightly behind are shear waves, which radiate out from the earthquake's epicenter and are seen at the surface as a rolling ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 05, 2012 |
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Tracing an elusive killer parasite in Peru
Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, not all epidemics involve people suffering from zombie-like symptoms--some can only be uncovered through door-to-door epidemiology and advanced mathematics.
Sep 27, 2011 |
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US scientists testing earthquake early warning
Elizabeth Cochran was sitting in her office when her computer suddenly sounded an alarm.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 20, 2011 |
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Tohoku tsunami created icebergs in Antarctica
A NASA scientist and her colleagues were able to observe for the first time the power of an earthquake and tsunami to break off large icebergs a hemisphere away.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 08, 2011 |
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Forest fungus factory: New technology fights hemlock pest
An invasive insect, hemlock woolly adelgid, has been marching north along the Appalachians, killing almost every hemlock tree in its path. The adelgid has devastated forests in Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. The pest recently ...
Jul 21, 2011 |
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Explained: Measuring earthquakes
The powerful earthquake that struck Japan in March was a 9.0-magnitude event. But this was not, as some people may assume, as registered on the Richter scale, the famed measuring system dating to the 1930s. ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 10, 2011 |
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New Zealand quake region as seen by NASA spacecraft
(PhysOrg.com) -- A day after a powerful magnitude 6.3 earthquake rocked Christchurch, a city of 377,000 on New Zealand's South Island, on Feb. 22, 2011, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 25, 2011 |
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Tsunami risk higher in Los Angeles, other major cities
(PhysOrg.com) -- Geologists studying the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake say the risk of destructive tsunamis is higher than expected in places such as Kingston, Istanbul, and Los Angeles.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 10, 2010 |
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Topography Reflects Baja Quake Site's Complex Geology
(PhysOrg.com) -- The topography surrounding the Laguna Salada fault in the Mexican state of Baja, California, is clearly shown in this combined radar image and topographic view (above) generated with data ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 06, 2010 |
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Haiti: Physics of Quakes Past, and Future
(PhysOrg.com) -- The earthquake that struck Haiti took place along what is called a strike-slip fault -- a place where tectonic plates on each side of a fault line are moving horizontally in opposite directions, ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 04, 2010 |
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Conditions combined for devastating tsunami
(AP) -- Because of a lethal combination of geology and geography, the people of American Samoa didn't stand much of a chance. Almost every condition that triggers bad tsunamis was in place this time, generating ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 30, 2009 |
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Epicenter
The epicenter or epicentre (pronounced /ˈɛpɪsɛntər/) is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates. The word derives from the New Latin noun epicentrum, the latinisation of the ancient Greek adjective ἐπίκεντρος (epikentros), "occupying a cardinal point, situated on a centre", from ἐπί (epi) "on, upon, at" and κέντρον (kentron) "centre".
In the case of earthquakes, the epicenter is directly above the point where the fault begins to rupture, and in most cases, it is the area of greatest damage. However, in larger events, the length of the fault rupture is much longer, and damage can be spread across the rupture zone. For example, in the magnitude 7.9, 2002 Denali earthquake in Alaska, the epicenter was at the western end of the rupture, but the greatest damage occurred about 330 km away at the eastern end of the rupture zone.
For more information about Epicenter, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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