Natural Disasters News

December 21, 2024

Top Headlines

Prehistoric Rock in Japan Reveals Clues to Major Ocean Anoxic Event

Dec. 17, 2024 — Researchers analyzed radioisotopes in layers of fossilized volcanic ash. Decay of uranium to lead within tiny crystals enabled scientists to precisely pinpoint dates for certain events. They determined this event occurred 119.5 million years ago -- ...

The Great Ripple: How a Tsunami Can Disrupt Global Trade

Dec. 13, 2024 — Tsunamis can cause immense physical damage to ports, but the economic cost does not stop there. The resultant disruptions of shipping lanes result in billions of dollars in losses every day, as was seen in the 2011 tsunami that hit the Tohoku ...

What Triggered Nepal's Catastrophic 2021 Flood -- And Could It Happen Again?

Dec. 4, 2024 — Heavy monsoon rainfall, excessive snowmelt and unstable terrain combined to cause the 2021 Melamchi Valley flood disaster in Nepal, according to new research. The findings highlight how a mix of ...

Technique to Forecast Where the Next Big Quake Will Start

Dec. 12, 2024 — Scientists have a new method for studying faults that could improve earthquake forecasts, shedding light on where quakes start, how they spread, and where the biggest impacts might ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:24am EST

New Research Provides an Improved Understanding of Earthquake Hazards in the Permian Basin

Dec. 2, 2024 — A new collection of published papers offers the most detailed and comprehensive breakdown yet of how water injected into the Permian Basin during oil ...

Unveiling a Century of Stress and Deformation: Insights from Kilauea Volcano's 1975 Earthquake

Dec. 2, 2024 — Scientists assessed an unprecedented 120 years of data from K lauea Volcano on Hawai'i Island, uncovering, for the first time, century-spanning ...

Moving 'Hotspot' Created World's Longest Straight Underwater Mountain Belt

Nov. 27, 2024 — New research has revealed that the Ninetyeast Ridge -- the Earth's longest straight underwater mountain chain -- formed through a different process than previously believed. Stretching 5000 km along ...

How Flood Risk Affects Home Values

Nov. 19, 2024 — Houses for sale in a flood zone are around 10% cheaper than surrounding areas, according to new research. However, the reduced price tag is not worth the extra risk and can burden buyers with ...

Improving Hurricane Modeling With Physics-Informed Machine Learning

Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers employ machine learning to more accurately model the boundary layer wind field of tropical cyclones. Conventional approaches to storm forecasting involve large numerical simulations run ...

Plugged Wells and Reduced Injection Lower Induced Earthquake Rates in Oklahoma, Study Finds

Nov. 13, 2024 — Wastewater injection resulting from oil and gas production in Oklahoma caused a dramatic rise in seismic activity in the state between 2009 and 2015. ...

Faster Flowing Glaciers Could Help Predict Nearby Volcanic Activity

Nov. 13, 2024 — Glaciers that are within three miles of a volcano move nearly 50% quicker than average, a new study has found, which could help create early warning of future ...

Building a Diverse Wildland Fire Workforce to Meet Future Challenges

Nov. 12, 2024 — Wildland firefighters are under significant strain, often overworked and underpaid despite the growing need to respond to larger, more destructive fires. Building a more resilient and effective ...

Some of the World's Least Polluting Populations Are at Much Greater Risk of Flooding Fueled by Climate Change

Nov. 7, 2024 — A new study has exposed for the first time how inhabitants of the smallest countries globally, contributing least to climate change, already bear the ...

Earthquake Prediction Techniques Lend Quick Insight Into Strength, Reliability of Materials

Nov. 6, 2024 — Materials scientists can now use insight from a very common mineral and well-established earthquake and avalanche statistics to quantify how hostile ...

How Prisons Fall Short in Protecting the Incarcerated from Climate Disasters

Nov. 8, 2024 — A new study paints a grim picture of how blistering heat, wildfire smoke and other extreme weather events impact Colorado's jail and prison ...

New Trigger Proposed for Record-Smashing 2022 Tonga Eruption

Nov. 4, 2024 — Fifteen minutes before the massive January 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, a seismic wave was recorded by two distant seismic stations. The researchers propose that the ...

Some Wildfire Suppressants Contain Heavy Metals and Could Contaminate the Environment

Oct. 30, 2024 — In fire-prone areas, water isn't the only thing used to quell blazes. Wildland firefighters also apply chemical or synthetic suppressants. Researchers explored whether these suppressants could ...

Dinosaurs Thrived After Ice, Not Fire, Says a New Study of Ancient Volcanism

Oct. 29, 2024 — The Triassic-Jurassic Extinction, 201.6 million years ago, has been considered by some to have been a fairly slow-burn event, driven by rising temperatures and ocean acidification. A new study says ...

Building Safer Cities With AI: Machine Learning Model Enhances Urban Resilience Against Liquefaction

Oct. 28, 2024 — In earthquake-prone areas like Japan, there is a need for better prediction of soil stability to mitigate liquefaction risks. Towards this end, researchers have used machine learning models, ...

Wildfires Are Becoming Faster and More Dangerous in Western U.S.

Oct. 24, 2024 — Fire speed, not size, drives threat to people and ...

A 'Worrying Confluence' of Flood Risk, Social Vulnerability and Climate Change Denial

Oct. 23, 2024 — In certain parts of the United States, especially Appalachia, New England and the Northwest, the ability of residents to prepare for and respond to flooding is being undercut on three different ...

What Happened When a Meteorite the Size of Four Mount Everests Hit Earth?

Oct. 21, 2024 — Scientists paint a compelling picture of what happened the day the S2 meteorite crashed into Earth 3.26 billion years ...

Shaking from April's Sizable New Jersey Earthquake Traveled Strangely Far

Oct. 21, 2024 — When a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck northern New Jersey's Tewksbury township on April 5, it triggered widespread alarm as the biggest event since 1884. Based on existing models, it should ...

When Hurricanes Hit, Online Chatter Drowns out Safety Messaging

Oct. 17, 2024 — Research shows, during four recent major hurricanes, important public safety messaging was drowned out by more trivial social content--including people tweeting about pets, sharing human-interest ...

Understanding Landslides: A New Model for Predicting Motion

Oct. 17, 2024 — Along coastal California, the possibility of earthquakes and landslides are commonly prefaced by the phrase, 'not if, but when.' This precarious reality is now a bit more predictable thanks ...

Echoes from the Past: A Geological Mystery Unravelled on Easter Island

Oct. 16, 2024 — A mysterious find on Easter Island, investigated by a team of geologists, suggests that the Earth's mantle seems to behave differently than once ...

Scientists Track and Analyze Lofted Embers That Cause Spot Fires

Oct. 9, 2024 — Civil and environmental engineering researchers conducted unique live fire experiments to study the kinematics of firebrands, burning embers cast off from wildfires that cause spot fires leading to ...

Closer Look at New Jersey Earthquake Rupture Could Explain Shaking Reports

Oct. 2, 2024 — Geologists show how the earthquake's rupture direction may have affected who felt the strongest shaking on 5 ...

Tongan Volcanic Eruption Triggered by Explosion as Big as 'Five Underground Nuclear Bombs'

Sep. 30, 2024 — The Hunga Tonga underwater volcano was one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, and now, two years later, new research has revealed its main ...

Deep Underground Flooding Beneath Arima Hot Springs: A Potential Trigger for the 1995 Kobe (Hyogo-Ken Nanbu) Earthquake

Sep. 27, 2024 — Researchers showed that the 1995 Kobe (Hyogo-ken Nanbu) earthquake, which struck southern Hyogo Prefecture, may have been triggered by deep underground flooding beneath Arima Hot Springs. By ...

Ancient Sunken Seafloor Reveals Earth's Deep Secrets

Sep. 27, 2024 — Geologists discover a mysterious subduction zone deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, reshaping our understanding of Earth's ...

Extinct Volcanoes a 'Rich' Source of Rare Earth Elements

Sep. 24, 2024 — A mysterious type of iron-rich magma entombed within extinct volcanoes is likely abundant with rare earth elements and could offer a new way to source these in-demand metals, according to new ...

Moving Particle Simulation-Aided Soil Plasticity Analysis for Earth Pressure Balance Shield Tunnelling

Sep. 17, 2024 — Understanding the relationship between plasticity of muddy soil and earth pressure can be crucial to maintaining tunnel stability and predicting ground behavior during earth pressure balance (EPB) ...

Wildland Firefighters Hit Their STRIDE

Sep. 16, 2024 — You're a hotshot working to contain a wildfire. The conflagration jumps the fire line, forcing your crew to flee using pre-determined escape routes. At the start of the day, the crew boss ...