Dear Friends,
I'm an Earth Sciences major (w/ Education track) at FIU and when most of the news we're getting is filtered through the same (or similar) media lens I'd like to offer another, more technical view from an email sent by Dr. Grenville Draper to all Earth Sciences students the morning of the massive Haiti Earthquake on Wednesday, January 13, 2010:
The Haiti earthquake occurred on the Plantain Garden-Enriquillo Fault zone that stretches between Jamaica in the west to central Hispaniola in the east. This, like the San Andreas Fault zone, is a strike-slip fault meaning that the motions on the fault are horizontal and the structural blocks on either side are moving past each other, rather than up or down.
Unlike the San Andreas it is NOT the main fault between two plates (Caribbean and North America) but a subdsidiary one. The rate of accumulation of strain in this area i less than 20mm per year (slow) so that large 'quakes occur separated by large intervals of time. The last comparable 'quake was in this area was in 1755.
I actually mapped the western extent of this fault for my doctorate. I crossed the eastern part of it only two weeks ago.
A magnitude 7 earthquake this close to a heavily populated area is a major disaster and I fear the worst.
Grenville Draper
Prof. of Geology,
Associate Director of Liberal Studies
Fellow of the Geological Society,
Fellow of FIU Honors College
A second email was sent this morning by Dr. Draper, seen here.
There was a 6.1 aftershock in Haiti this morning.
Details at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010rsbb.php
There is also a video of me explaining the earthquake at http://news.fiu.edu/2010/01/for-fiu-professor-haiti-earthquake-is-tragic-but-not-unexpected/
And if you simply can't get enough of me, [ ;-) ]I am giving a seminar about the origin of the Earth in the Werthaim Conservatory at 5pm today.
GD
There you have it, a professional's inside look at Earthquakes. Not to be replaced by the loss of lives in Haiti.
May my thoughts and prayers send comfort and relief in my absence.
always karla xoxo
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