Mystery of Earthquake Lights revealed

Its appearance is often mistaken as a UFO, or even hallucinations. Recently, geologists collect almost definitive list of related rare phenomenon that is still a mystery and debate among the scientists, the 'earthquake light'.

Several types of earthquakes in specific areas can trigger flashes of light that occur happen a few seconds. Even days, before the earthquake. Sign of the earthquake. Many forms of floating orbs of lights, blue columns that seemed to come out of the Earth, or otherwise shape of lightning-from the ground to the sky.

Scientists are still unsure why more earthquake light events are related to rift environments than other types of faults. However, they believe they can help warn of earthquakes in the future. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)

A study in the Seismological Research Letters scientific journal shows, a earthquake light associated with the earthquake type of area in which certain geological formations occur. Although this phenomenon is rare, scientists have documented 65 occurrences since 1600.

Mysterious floating orbs of lights are harbingers of an imminent earthquake, scientists claim. These lights were seen before the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)

Including those occurring on earthquake in L' Aquila, Italy in 2009. Shortly before the earth shook, the pedestrians witnessing a bright light like a flame float 4 inches above the pavement Francesco Crispi Avenue, in the historic city center.

In Pisco, Peru, a Marine look pale blue columns of light that pops up four times in a row from the water on August 15, 2007, when an earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale occurred. CCTV cameras in the town also catch the light sightings.

Meanwhile, on November 12, 1988, the purple mixed with pink light ball moving in the sky above the St. Lawrence river, near Quebec City, Canada 11 days before the devastating earthquake rocked.

On April 18, 1906, the blue light hovering in the base of the foothills west of San Francisco, just before the devastating earthquake occurred. In the south of the city, in San Jose, a segment of the course seemed to be lit in a faint but beautiful like a rainbow of colors.

"The mechanism that causes this phenomenon only occurs under certain conditions and rare," said Friedemann Freund, a professor of physics from San Jose State University and senior scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, as quoted by USA Today, on January 2, 2013.

Continental rift environments now appear to be the common factor associated with earthquake lights. This image of an earthquake light was taken in El Salvador. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)

Rocks such as basalt and gabbro, which formed deep in the Earth's mantle, has a small defect in the crystal. When rocks such great pressure, the defect produces an electrical charge. "When seismic waves propagate through the ground and hit the rock layers, pressing rock with strong and fast pressure, creating the conditions in which a large number of positive and negative electrical charge is created," says Professor Freund. The power can move simultaneously, achieving a condition called plasma, which could 'explode' out and radiate into the air.

The other components are needed to form a earthquake light produced naturally, is a vertical fracture deep in the earth's crust - that it could reach 60 miles or 96 kilometers, even more. Magma that solidifies into a gabbro or basalt rising from cracks in it, forming a thick pile of similar dykes tens to hundreds of meters.

"We speculate that the stack behaves like a funnel, concentrating the electric charge to be a solid ionized plasma," said Robert Theriault, team leader of the study and a geologist at Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources, Canada. "When plasma burst into the air, it will produce light," he added.

Less than 0.5 percent of earthquakes around the world occur in the proper location for the occurrence of the earthquake light. The scientists combed data from historical documents, some written by hand and in Latin, from centuries ago. They also look for the modern scientific papers and recording of CCTV cameras which record the time of earthquake.

Theriault admitted, the earthquake light sometimes mistaken as a UFO. In the early 1970s, Jim Conacher was boating with his wife in Tagish Lake in the Yukon, Canada. They watched the yellow floating orbs of lights on the side of the mountain. The floating orbs of lights was slowly drifting up the mountain merge with one another. Conacher photographing the light appearance, the picture later appeared on Internet sites, is regarded as UFO sightings in Canada.

When scientists study the seismic data, they found records of earthquakes in Cross Sound on July 1, 1973, with a strength of 6.7 on the Richter scale. Also there is an aftershock with a magnitude of 5.2 and 4.1 on the Richter scale. Although the witnesses, Conacher and his wife had died and could not be asked about exactly when they are boating fun, the scientists believe that the light appeared a few hours before the earthquake.

Based on the record, an area where the earthquake light occurred including in Italy, Greece, and the Rhine fault - which runs between France and Germany, are also a number of areas in South America. And China. Theriault said, although the earthquake light not common to be used as an early warning, but can function like that.

This is one of them, before the earthquake in L' Aquila, a man saw a very bright flash of light in daylight. The light was just a few seconds. Because he had been reading about the earthquake light, he decided to bring his family to a safer place. And they survived.

Theriault also knew a geologist in Canada who lived in China in 1976. On July 28 the same year, he saw an earthquake light. Then, he quickly left the house. Sure enough, not long after the Tangshan devastating earthquake happened, which killed hundreds of thousands of people - an estimated 240 thousand to 650 thousand inhabitants. But the geologist survived. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DAILY MAIL]

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The Japanese newest island continues to grow

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, that the newest island in Japan, Niijima, has a three-fold increase in size since it was first seen on November 20, 2013.

Japan's newest island, Niijima, is seen from the air in a photo by the Japanese Coast Guard on December 1. (Picture from: http://www.voanews.com/)

Niijma formed from volcanic activity along the west edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire". The island is located about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo and 130 kilometers from the nearest inhabited island in waters considered as the Japanese territory.

The new island is very close to the Nishino-shima, another volcanic island erupted the last time and enlarged in 1973-1974. Last pictures of the two islands were taken by a NASA satellite on December 24, 2013, shows that the two islands were almost touching.

Niijima and Nishino-shima appear to be almost touching in this December 24 image taken by a NASA satellite. (Picture from: http://www.voanews.com/)

Scientists from the Japan Meteorological Agency also said the island was large enough to last at least a few years, maybe even permanently. In early December, the island has expanded to 56,000 square meter, or about three times its initial size. And it stands at 20 to 25 meters above sea level. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | VOA NEWS]

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3 Indonesian Volcanoes that Surprised the World in 2013

Since the era of Krakatau and Tambora to Toba, Indonesia volcanoes are always given a surprise to the world. The mighty eruption often comes from Indonesian volcanos, while the behavioral side, they recently also given a surprise to the world.

In many volcanic activity in Indonesia, there are three volcanoes that give a shock, i.e Sinabung in North Sumatra, Merapi in Yogyakarta and Central Java area. Meanwhile, other volcano is Samalas, the mother of Mount Barujari in West Nusa Tenggara and its mighty eruption that formed Segara Anak Lake, that turns out to cause devastating eruption in 1257 and allegedly associated with the disaster in Europe around that year.

1. MOUNT SINABUNG

In 2013 , the Sinabung mount back to shock the world. Again and again, Sinabung erupted and caused the rain of ash. One of the Sinabung deadliest eruption occurred on November 25, 2013. In just 2 hours, three times Sinabung's eruption occured and made the height of the smoke reach up to 2 kilometers. Meanwhile, the rain of ash to a radius of 7 km.

Sinabung activity this year gained the attention of the world, is informed by a range of international media. Sinabung is said to "wake up" after sleeping for hundreds of years.

Mount Sinabung in Karo, North Sumatra, still spewing volcanic material, September 17, 2013. Eruptions that occurred Sunday at 2:51, resulting in thousands of people from dozens of villages at the foot of the mountain had to be evacuated. (Picture from: http://sains.kompas.com/)

Previously, Sinabung is categorized as type B or the volcano does not have magmatic eruption characteristic. Volcanos also belong to this type, among others the Merbabu, the Merapi's neighbor volcano. Since its 2010 devastating eruption, Sinabung then categorized as type A, which have a history of eruptions for at least the last 1,600 years.

Sinabung status continues to be adapted since the eruption in September 2013. On September 15, the eruption status of Sinabung was raised from 'Wary' to 'Alert'. And had relegated back to 'Wary' on September 29, then its status in late November was 'Caution'.

2. MOUNT MERAPI

Merapi is also given a surprise on November 18, 2013 due to its phreatic eruptions and exhausted fumes to a height of 2,000 meters. The phreatic eruption is said to be a new phenomenon of Merapi. History records that this new phenomenon of its phreatic eruption occurred since the 2010 eruption.

Mount Merapi. (Picture from: http://sains.kompas.com/)

Head of the Research and Technological Development of Geological Disasters Center(Balai Penyelidikan dan Pengembangan Teknologi Bencana Geologi/BPPTKG), Subandriyo, said that the phreatic eruption associated high gas content. Irregularities of 2010 Merapi explosive eruption could occur due to high gas content. Post-eruption, the gas content is high possibility that bring back the phreatic eruptions.

3. MOUNT SAMALAS

No activity Samalas this year because the volcano is actually already 'colapsed'. Nowadays, there are its children, namely Mount Barujari. Samalas given a surprise because of the research results of Indonesian and foreigner vulcano experts team states, the volcano that are in the Rinjani mountain complex, West Nusa Tenggara, was alleged to have been the deadliest eruption in 1257.

Volcano expert team examined contained traces of volcanic spices in the north polar ice sheet to confirm Samalas massive eruption. From the study results, revealed that the Samalas eruption responsible for starvation and mass mortality events in Europe a year after the eruption. The discovery of thousands of human skeletons in London in 1258 certainly comes from the possibility is closely related to the global impact of the eruption of Samalas  in 1257.

Cloud enveloped the summit of Mount Rinjani (3,726 m) in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. This peak is part of the erupting Mount Samalas to cripple the world in 1257. Super eruptions resulted in the formation of the caldera and Segara Anak lake. (Picture from: http://sains.kompas.com/)

Writings in Babad Lombok describe the awesomeness Samalas eruption. However, the eruption actually much more powerful than what is described in the text. While the Merapi eruptions in 2010 in the scale of 4. Meanwhile, the eruption of Samalas hundreds of years ago reach a scale of 7, with the strength 1,000 times larger than the Merapi eruption.

If Samalas eruption occurred at this time, the loss is infinite. Merapi eruption alone is making 1,000 people evacuated. When the Samalas erupt again, all flights crippled, do not operate.

From all surprise that given by the Indonesian volcanoes, a lesson to be gleaned is alertness. Indonesia is located in a very active geologically region. Behavior change of Sinabung and Merapi for example, must get the serious attention and change the perspective in looking at them. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SAINS KOMPAS]
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There is a sleeping giant in Yellowstone

There is a sleeping giant beneath the beauty of Yellowstone National Park, which is located in the state of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, USA. Where the geyser Old Smith gushed, as if nudging the sky. Blue and green color saturation in geothermal pool which has a bright fringe, and offers amazing views. Also the towering mountains shrouded in dense vegetation, providing shelter for various wild animals.

Hot springs are surface evidence of the huge magma chamber that sits beneath Yellowstone. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Behind the beauty of Yellowstone, threats a lurk. A giant volcano (Supervolcano) are powerful enough to destroy most of the United States and changed the world, resides there. Recently, a scientists team discovered that the supervolcano magma chamber was much larger than previous estimates, which is 2.5 times larger. Scientists find underground caves that stretches more than 90 km that containing about 200 to 600 cubic kilometer of molten rock. The findings were presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco some time ago.

"We have been working on for a while there in no time, and for that we always think that the magma chamber was larger than expected ... but this finding remains shocking," said Prof Bob Smith of the University of Utah, as quoted by the BBC, on Wednesday, December 11, 2013. The team uses a network of seismometers located around the national park to map the magma chamber.

Yellowstone ash plume It is unclear when the Yellowstone supervolcano will erupt again. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Dr. Jamie Farrell of the University of Utah explains, that his team record earthquake data in and around Yellowstone. Then measure the seismic waves that propagate in the ground. "The wave moves more slowly through the material to heat and partially liquid. With it we can measure what is hidden in there."

The team found that the magma chamber was unusually large. Reach a depth of 2 to 15 kilometers (1 to 9 miles). The hole was estimated to have a length of approximately 90 kilometers (55 miles) and a width of 30 km (20 miles). The size of the magma chamber was much larger - to the north and east - rather than revealed in previous studies. "No one had ever mapped the size as it was before," added Dr. Farrell.

The findings are used by scientists to assess the potential threat of the giant mountain. If Yellowstone erupts now, the consequences will be catastrophic. In comparison, when the last major eruption at 640,000 years ago, it was sent to the entire North American ash. Have an impact on the world's climate. The power of the eruption is estimated to 25 thousand times more powerful than the eruption of Mount St. Helena in 1980.

Before the devastating eruption happens, most likely a strong earthquake shook the surrounding area, and a large explosion would wipe Yellowstone, make it disappear from the map. Then, heat clouds and burning rocks burn anything in its path, with temperatures reaching hundreds of degrees Celsius. Ash will cover the western part of the U.S. to a radius of 1,000 km or more than 1,600 miles, get into aircraft engines, crippling air transport, threatening the world's food supply.

Casualties can not be prevented. Approximately 87,000 people will be killed instantly, not to mention the following result of the after-effects. Not only that, two-thirds of the U.S. could become uninhabitable as toxic air that blows from the caldera that makes millions of people into refugees.

However, a larger magma chamber does not mean the threat is also greater. "It is true, this is a system that is much bigger... but I do not think it makes the Yellowstone danger greater," said Professor Bob Smith. "But we came to know more about the area in the northeast caldera."

Scientists also do not know when Yellowstone will erupt again. Some experts believe the mountain Yellowstone erupts periodically once in 700,000 years. Professor Smith said, still a lot of data that is required to make predictions, because, there are only 3 major eruption so far: at 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 640,000 years ago.

Supervolcano characteristics did not like most of the conical mountain. In contrast, supervolcano has what is called a caldera, a large area that is sinking into the ground due to the devastating eruption which makes the soil explode and fall back, and make it a long rest. And finally woke up again at a later time.. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC | INHABITAT]
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The highest mountain in North America shrunk?

Mount McKinley is located in 
Denali National Park, Alaska.  
(Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Latest map which released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the highest mountain peak in North America decreased several meters. 

Calculation using the new technology was proven that high Mount McKinley is only 6,168 meters or 25.29 meters shorter than its original height, 6,193 meters.

The latest data is derived from measurements using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar, a technology designed to track in a very small geographic changes in 2012. Current official publication is taken from measurements results in 1952.

The USGS said the height change of Mount McKinley can occur due to several factors such as, which technology is more accurate, a compilation of different methods, or because of climate change. Release of new data are part of an effort to update the Alaska topographic map.

Mount McKinley that located in Alaska, is a popular destination for mountain climbers in the United States. The mountain is also known as Denali, as it is located in Denali National Park in the State of Alaska.

Despite the high shrink, the summit of Mount McKinley is still much higher than the summit of Mount Saint Elias (second highest mountain in the United States) that has a high 5,489 meters.

The Mount McKinley named after William McKinley since he was elected as 25th President of the United States. The first person to successfully climb Mount McKinley is four amateur climbers led by Peter Anderson and Billy Taylor in 1910. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DAILYMAIL | ROSALINA | KORAN TEMPO 4347]

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Why the Earth's core rotates to the East?

The 300 years old's puzzle was finally solved. Scientists at the University of Leeds found out that the Earth core rotates to the east. Earth's core, which is made ​​of solid metal, and perform the eastward super-rotation much more rapidly than other parts of the Earth. Also the opposite direction of rotation with the sheath of Earth's core, which rotates to the west at a lower velocity.

Earth has multiple layers: the crust, the mantle, the liquid outer core and the solid inner core. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

Actually the westward movement of geomagnetic field has been put forward in 1962 by Edmund Halley, a scientist which also known as discoverer of the Halley comet. But this time the scientists succeeded in connecting the Earth's core rotation and the sheath of Earth's core movement as an influence result of the Earth's geomagnetic field.

The study results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, on September 16, 2013. And also helped the researchers to explain the Earth's core dynamics, which is the source of the planet's magnetic field. In the last few decades seismometer identify the eastward rotation, which shows the Earth's core conducting super-rotation.

"Magnetic field pushing the Earth's core rotates eastward, faster than the Earth's rotation and at the same time pushes the liquid sheath of the Earth's core is rotating in the opposite direction," said Philip Livermore, a researcher from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds.

Dr Livermore’s team used a model of the Earth’s core which was run on the giant super-computer Monte Rosa in Lugano, Switzerland. The scientists were able to simulate the Earth’s core with accuracy about 100 times better than other models. (Picture from: http://www.sci-news.com/)

The Earth's core which has the size of the Moon, wrapped by a liquid metal sheath. Actually the Earth's internal magnetic field is changing slowly, and causing electro magnetic power push inner and outer core to change over the time. It is triggers fluctuations in the rotational motion of Earth's core to the east, a phenomenon that has been reported since the last 50 years.

Another study focused on the archaeological artifacts and hundreds to thousands of years old rocks concluded that there's no rotational movement to the west. Rotational movement to the east has actually been happening in the last 3,000 years. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | GABRIEL TITIYOGA | KORAN TEMPO 4352]
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