Experts: How a remote Russia quake shook the Pacific and what we can learn from it
On Tuesday evening, a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the Kamchatka coast in Russia’s far east, triggering tsunami warnings across the Pacific Rim. From Japan to Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. West Coast, boats moved out of harbors and residents braced for waves to arrive from thousands of miles away.
Virginia Tech experts weighed in on the historical nature of the earthquake, the widespread impacts, and what we can expect from these types of events in the future.
Martin Chapman, director of the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory, recorded readings on the seismograph in Blacksburg, Virginia, thousands of miles away.
According to Chapman, this was the sixth-largest quake ever recorded since the invention of the seismograph, going back to about 1900. There was a prior earthquake off the Kamchatka coast in 1952 that measured a magnitude 9.0.
“The area is part of the Ring of Fire, which is known for its large earthquakes and extends along almost all of the Pacific,” explained Robert Weiss, a professor of natural hazards who specializes in earthquakes and tsunamis.
When quakes as strong as this one occur, especially in coastal regions, they can spur gravity-driven water waves, or tsunamis.
“Great earthquakes in subduction zones like this one cause the seafloor to rise several meters over very large areas,” Chapman said. “These gravity-driven water waves travel at high speed in deep oceans and can traverse thousands of miles of ocean in a matter of hours. When they come ashore, the wave heights increase and can cause devastation.”
Weiss urges those in impact zones to exercise extreme caution. “People need to wait for the all-clear sign from official sources and need to take advisories and warnings seriously,” he said.
Looking forward, Chapman believes this earthquake — the likes of which occur roughly once per decade, on average — will provide critical data for scientific research.
“This earthquake was very well recorded by the global seismic network and tsunami warning system instruments,” he said. “We know that earthquakes like this one will continue to occur in the future in tectonically active areas like the northwestern Pacific and elsewhere around the world.”
About Chapman
Martin Chapman is a research professor of geophysics and the director of the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory. He studies the seismicity and tectonics of plate interiors and strong-motion seismology, with a goal of combining results from both areas to contribute to an improved scientific basis for assessment and mitigation of earthquake hazards. He also studies the geologic causes of earthquakes and the characteristics of seismic wave propagation and makes extensive use of the worldwide collection of strong motion data from large earthquakes to characterize and predict damaging motions in the near-fault distance range in a variety of tectonic environments.
About Weiss
Robert Weiss examines the impact of coastal hazards in the geologic past, today and in the future. His work analyzes how climate change and sea-level rise could change the nature and impacts of coastal hazards in coming years. He develops computer models and uses data analytics to translate the geologic record of coastal hazards into insights that improve the understanding of coastal hazards in the past and today. Weiss is a professor of natural hazards in the College of Science’s Department of Geosciences and director of the college’s Academy of Intergrated Science.
Schedule an interview
To schedule an interview, contact Noah Frank in the media relations office at nafrank@vt.edu or by phone at 805-453-2556.
