2 Earthquakes Strike Off Southern California Coast
Two moderate earthquakes have struck under the ocean near the Channel Islands off the Southern California coast.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports a magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck the sea floor about 14 miles east of San Nicolas Island at 2:45 p.m Sunday.
A magnitude 3.6 quake hit three minutes later in the same spot, 56 miles west of Santa Catalina Island, in an area where the sea floor is about 2,000 feet below the surface.
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Two Earthquakes Strike Indian Ocean Region, Japan
Two potentially destructive earthquakes struck minutes apart in the Indian Ocean and Japan today, generating tsunami alerts for India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Japan.
The larger of the two quakes was a magnitude-7.6 temblor that hit the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. It was followed less than 15 minutes later by a 6.6-magnitude quake in Japan southwest of Tokyo.
The tsunami watch was later canceled, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said, adding that no significant tsunami was generated. The alert was in effect for as long as three hours after the quake struck parts of India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The Andaman quake struck at a depth of 33 kilometers 21 miles at about 1:55 a.m. local time and was centered 260 kilometers north of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, or about 825 kilometers west of Bangkok, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
A magnitude-9.1 earthquake that hit off the coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra in December 2004 triggered a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean, leaving more than 229,000 dead or missing from Southeast Asia to eastern Africa.
Mysterious Tremors Detected On San Andreas Fault
Scientists have detected a spike in underground rumblings on a section of California’s San Andreas Fault that produced a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in 1857.
What these mysterious vibrations say about future earthquakes is far from certain. But some think the deep tremors suggest underground stress may be building up faster than expected and may indicate an increased risk of a major temblor.
