Major City Shifted 10 Feet after Chilean Earthquake
GPS measurements have showed that Concepcion, Chile, moved 10 feet after the recent earthquake struck the country.
Project CAP (Central and Southern Andes GPS Project), led by Ohio State University earth scientist Mike Bevis, has analyzed GPS data since 1993, preliminarily concluding that the second-largest city in Chile shifted 10 feet to the west after the earthquake on Feb. 27.
However, Concepcion was not the only city to be repositioned by the quake.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake centered in Maule, Chile, forced many locations in South America to take a step to the west, including 11 inches for Santiago, Chile's capital, and an inch for Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Chilean quake occurred in the "ring of fire" region of the Pacific Ocean. It was caused by a process known as subduction, where one tectonic plate is forced to grind under another tectonic plate above it.
The largest earthquakes measured since 1900 have all taken place in subduction zones, according to an article by Wired Magazine.
"The Maule earthquake will arguably become one of the, if not the, most important great earthquake yet studied," said University of Hawaii project scientist Ben Brooks in a press release.
"We now have modern, precise instruments to evaluate this event, and because the site abuts a continent, we will be able to obtain dense spatial sampling of the changes it caused."
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Daily U.S. Extremes
past 24 hours
| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | 82° | Gila Bend, AZ |
| Low | -13° | Clayton Lake, ME |
| Precip | 1.24" | Spanish Fork, UT |
WeatherWhys®
The "Dead of Winter," the one-month period when normal temperatures reach their lowest levels, has come to an end for much of the United States. Some people may find it odd that the "Dead of Winter" does not encompass the darkest day of the year (the first day of winter). That is due to a seasonal lag in temperatures. More heat continues to be lost than is gained from the start of winter until this time of year.
This Day In Weather History
Gulf Coast 1 (899)
ry cold morning along Gulf Coast; New Orleans 6.8 deg.; Mobile -1 deg.; Pensacola 7 deg.; Tallahassee -2 deg (All time record for Florida. Brownsville 12 deg. (all time low).
North Dakota 1 (936)
this date the mercury plummeted to -60 deg. at Parshall, ND - the coldest temperature ever for the State of ND. Later the same year, the mercury soared to 121 deg. at Steele, ND - the hottest temperature ever for the state of ND.
Rough Weather
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