Earthquake News

North America rocked by eight earthquakes in the past week from Vancouver and Wisconsin to California and Texas.

Earthquakes that have hit the headlines around the world in the Last Month.

All magnitudes expressed use the Richter Scale unless otherwise stated

• February 5th, Magnitude 5.0 + 3.6 + 3.3, Philippines
• February 5th, Magnitude 5.0, Iran
• February 4th, Magnitude 5.6, Philippines
• February 4th, Magnitude 3.0, USA (California)
• February 4th, Magnitude 3.7, USA (Utah)
• February 4th, Magnitude 3.0, USA, (Texas)
• February 4th, Magnitude 5.7, Canada (Vancouver)
• February 4th, Magnitude 4.7, Kashmir
• February 3rd, Magnitude 5.7, New Zealand
• February 2nd, Magnitude 3.0, USA (California)
• February 2nd, Magnitude 6.9, Vanuatu
• February 1st, Magnitude 3.4, USA (California)
• February 1st, Magnitude 4.3, USA (Nevada)
• January 30th, Magnitude 6.3, Peru
• January 29th, Magnitude 4.5, New Zealand
• January 29th, Magnitude 5.7, Kermadec Islands (NZ)
• January 29th, Magnitude 3.5, India
• January 28th, Magnitude 4.9, Crete
• January 28th, Magnitude 5.5 + 4.9, Philippines
• January 27th, Magnitude 5.3, Italy
• January 27th, Magnitude 5.2, Crete
• January 26th, Magnitude 5.3, Crete
• January 26th, Magnitude 3.4, USA (California)
• January 26th, Magnitude 5.3, Guam
• January 25th, Magnitude 5.1, Italy
• January 25th, Magnitude 3.2, USA (California
• January 25th, Magnitude 3.4, USA (Washington)
• January 24th, Magnitude 3.9, USA (California)
• January 23rd, Magnitude 5.2, Dominican Republic
• January 23rd, Magnitude 6.2, Chile
• January 22nd, Magnitude 5.0 + 3.0, USA (Hawaii)
• January 22nd, Magnitude 4.3, New Zealand
• January 21st, Magnitude 3.6, New Zealand
• January 21st, Magnitude 6.3, Indonesia (East Nusa Tenggara)
• January 21st, Magnitude 5.7, Indonesia (North Sulawesi)
• January 21st, Magnitude 6.2, Mexico
• January 21st, Magnitude 5.0, Philippines
• January 21st, Magnitude 4.3, Nicobar Islands
• January 21st, Magnitude 3.0, USA (california)
• January 21st, Magnitude 3.5, Bulgaria
• January 20th, Magnitude 4.1, Philippines
• January 20th, Magnitude 5.0, New Zealand
• January 20th, Magnitude 3.2, USA (Montana)
• January 20th, Magnitude 4.9, Turkey
• January 19th, Magnitude 5.8 + 5.5, New Zealand
• January 19th, Magnitude 5.5, Iran
• January 18th, Magnitude 3.2, USA (Texas)
• January 16th, Magnitude 3.1, USA (california)
• January 15th, Magnitude 6.6, Antarctica
• January 13th, Magnitude 3.7, Philippines
• January 12th, Magnitude 3.3, USA (california)
• January 11th, Magnitude 5.0 + 4.2, Philippines
• January 11th, Magnitude 5.8, Japan
• January 10th, Magnitude 5.2, Iran
• January 10th, Magnitude 7.3, Indonesia (Aceh)
• January 10th, Magnitude 4.0, Philippines
• January 9th, Magnitude 4.1 + 3.4 + 3.6, New Zealand
• January 7th, Magnitude 3.1, USA (Arizona)
• January 7th, Magnitude 5.2 + 3.9 + 3.4 + 3.2, New Zealand
• January 7th, Magnitude 3.0, USA (California)
• January 7th, Magnitude 5.9, Indonesia (Ternate)
• January 6th, Magnitude 3.4 + 3.0 + 3.1, USA (California)
• January 6th, Magnitude 3.5 + 5.0 + 4.7 + 4.1, New Zealand
• January 6th, Magnitude 4.6, Philippines

For a list of all recorded earthquakes within the last week, visit the United States Geological Survey website:

Earthquakes above Magnitude 5    All Earthquakes

Volcano News

The alert Level has been raised on Mount Cleveland, Alaska, following discovery of a new lava dome.

Eruptions in the Last Year

• Mount Gamalama, Indonesia
• Mount Hudson, Chile
• Cleveland, Alaska
• Mount Lokon, Indonesia
• Mount Soputan, Indonesia
• Chaitan, Chile
• Puyehue, Chile
• Popocatapetl, Mexico
• Telica, Nicaragua
• Grimsvotn, Iceland
• Mount Etna, Italy
• Mount Mayon, Philippines
• Taal, Philippines
• Tunguruahua, Ecaudor
• Sinmoedake, Japan
• Mount Kerangetang, Indonesia
• Kilauea, Hawaii
• Mount Bromo, Indonesia
• Mount Bulusan, Indonesia
• Mount Merapi, Indonesia
• Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Russia
• Mount Sinabung, Indonesia
• Galeras, Colombia

Fossil News

• Rare Marine Reptile Found in Alaska. Click here for further information.
• A whale fossil with teeth twice as long as those of a T. Rex has been discovered in the Ocucaje Desert of southern Peru. The fossil dates from 12 million years ago and is an ancestor of the Sperm Whale of today. Named Leviathan melvillei - after Herman Melville, the author of the novel Moby Dick - the find was unique in that the entire skull, including the lower jaw and 10 well preserved teeth, were found.
• Spain is to re-open the Altamira caves to the public.
• A nearly complete skeleton of a previously unknown sauropod has been found in southern Utah, USA. Named Seitaad ruessi, the 10-15 foot long fossil dates from 185 million years ago. "Seitaad" is the Navajo word for a sand monster and "ruessi" is in honour of the naturalist Everett Ruessi, who disappeared in southern Utah in 1934.
• Russian scientists have decoded genetic material from a human ancestor that lived in Siberia 40,000 years ago. The DNA does not match either modern homo sapiens or neanderthals and may indicate existence of a new off-shoot in the human tree of evolution.

Mining News

• 7 dead and 46 missing after an oil rig sank in heavy storms in the Sea of Okhotsk off the eastern cast of Russia. 14 riggers were saved.
• 7 silver miners injured un undergropund rock blast in Idaho, USA.
• 8 dead but 45 miners rescued after a cave in at a coalmine in Henan, China.
• Oil discovered in the Lake Albert rift basin of Uganda with estimated reserves of 2.5 billion barrels. Production is expected to commence in 2012.
• 29 dead in coalmine gas explosion in HUnan, China.
• 1 dead in roof collapse at Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire.
• Goldminer killed in underground accident in Alaska.
• 4 coalminers die in a methane gas explosion in Coahila, Mexico.
• Drilling for oil and prospecting for zinc to begin in arctic Greenland commences as the icecap melts and exposes rock.
• 11 coalminers dead after a lift collapse in Donetsk, Ukraine.
• Major find of rare earth elements have been discovered in Pennsylvania, USA.
• 37 dead after a methane gas explosion at a coalmine in Luhansk, Ukraine.
• Large shale gas field goes on line in Pennsylvania, USA.
• China: 8 coalminers dead and 12 missing in Guangxi, 21 coalminers trapped in Guizhou.
• Goldminer killed by rockfall in Mponeng, South Africa.
• 9 coalminers dead and 5 missing after a methane gas explosion in Coahuila, Mexico.
• 3 dead following a shaft collapse in an opal mine in Jalisco, Mexico.
• A new on-shore production well has commenced operations at Singleton, near Chichester, West Sussex. Since the start of operations in 1989, this oilfield has produced almost 4 million barrels of oil.
• A new oil field has been discovered in the Barents Sea with estimated reserves of half a billion barrels.
• New oil and gas field discovered off Mexico's Gulf coast.
• 4.5 trillion feet of natural gas reserves have been proven in Patagonian shale deposits in southern Argentina.
• Drill cores have indicated the possibility of major new uranium-copper-gold deposits in South Australia.
• A huge gas and oil field has been discovered off the coast of Lebanon. Estimates range up to 122 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil. If accurate, this would make the field one of the world's largest.
• Gold discovered in the Komana region of Mali, West Africa, with estimated reserves of 1.25 million ounces.

Other News

• A meteorite weighing 8oz hit a doctor's surgery in Virginia, USA. No-one was hurt. The meteorite has been donated to the Smithsonian Institute.
• A pioneering project to drill geothermal wells outside the city of Basel, Switzerland, has been scrapped following concerns that the drilling is causing small earthquakes in the area.