Thursday, April 21, 2016

Æther Salon: Earthquakes! (Edited Transcript)

Earthquakes have been recorded throughout human history, oft-times explained in their immensity as the actions of gods such as Poseidon, or ‘a great battle between a thunderbird and a whale’. However, Science in its early forms investigated earthquakes as well.
The theories that have been put forward up to the present date are three, and their authors three men, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, and before him Anaximenes of Miletus, and later Democritus of Abdera.

Anaxagoras says that the ether, which naturally moves upwards, is caught in hollows below the earth and so shakes it, for though the earth is really all of it equally porous, its surface is clogged up by rain….

Democritus says that the earth is full of water and that when a quantity of rain-water is added to this an earthquake is the result. The hollows in the earth being unable to admit the excess of water it forces its way in and so causes an earthquake. Or again, the earth as it dries draws the water from the fuller to the emptier parts, and the inrush of the water as it changes its place causes the earthquake.

Anaximenes says that the earth breaks up when it grows wet or dry, and earthquakes are due to the fall of these masses as they break away. Hence earthquakes take place in times of drought and again of heavy rain, since, as we have explained, the earth grows dry in time of drought and breaks up, whereas the rain makes it sodden and destroys its cohesion.
Aristotle refuted the flaws he found in their theories, and ‘...that not water nor earth is the cause of earthquakes but wind-that is, the inrush of the external evaporation into the earth,’ due to the dynamic nature of air.

Pliny in his Natural History, stated:
The Babylonians were of Opinion, that Earthquakes and Chasms, and all other Occurrences of this Nature, are occasioned by the Influence of the Planets : bat of those three only to which they attribute Lightnings. And it is effected by the Means of their keeping their Course with the Sun, or meeting with him: and especially when this Concurrence is about the Quadratures of the Heaven.
In other words, earthquakes are caused by the electrical influences of specific planets in specific configurations.

In 426 BC, the Greek historian Thucydides inquired in his book History of the Peloponnesian War about the causes of tsunami, and was the first to argue that ocean earthquakes must be the cause.
The cause, in my opinion, of this phenomenon must be sought in the earthquake. At the point where its shock has been the most violent the sea is driven back, and suddenly recoiling with redoubled force, causes the inundation. Without an earthquake I do not see how such an accident could happen.
Some centuries after the Greek philosophers, the Spark Chang Hêng of the Han Chinese Imperial court also theorised that earthquakes were caused by air:
The chief cause of earthquake is air, an element naturally swift and shifting from place to place. As long as it is not stirred, but lurks in a vacant space, it reposes innocently, giving no trouble to objects around it. But any cause coming upon it from without rouses it, or compresses it, and drives it into a narrow space ... and when opportunity of escape is cut off, then 'With deep murmur of the Mountain it roars around the barriers', which after long battering it dislodges and tosses on high, growing more fierce the stronger the obstacle with which it has contended.
However, he did something about it and created the first practical ‘earthquake weathervane’ or seismometer:


His clever and sensitive device used a pendulum to trigger a ball-drop through one of the eight tubes decorated as dragons to indicate the direction in which the government should send aid. The Occident would take some centuries to catch up to this level of detection, unfortunately.

When Science started to overtake other methods for explaining the world, these antique theories, and the records of observers, explorers and sailors became vital to developing new and more rigorous theories of the origins of earthquakes, and means to measure and predict them. The massive Lisbon earthquake of 1755 gave impetus to a Scientific approach to earthquakes, although the actual Science of Seismology did not develop as a named discipline until well into the 1800s.

Let us establish some definitions for those who may not have dabbled in the Geological Sciences:
  • An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the perceptible shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves.
  • An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocentre. The epicentre is the point at ground level directly above the hypocentre.
  • Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and Sparks.
  • A fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock. They may be found where plates meet or where stresses have damaged the stratum. There are several specific terms for faults depending on the motion of the two sides relative to each other.
  • A diagram of different fault types:



Portugal’s disaster provoked some of the first seismically-protected construction in Europe. Models were tested by having troops march around them to simulate ground shaking. The Prime Minister the Marquis de Pombal sent out an analytical survey that looks surprisingly like what one might find on the aether-net currently:
  • At what time did the earthquake begin and how long did the earthquake last?
  • Did you perceive the shock to be greater from one direction than another? Example, from north to south? Did buildings seem to fall more to one side than the other?
  • How many people died and were any of them distinguished?
  • Did the sea rise or fall first, and how many hands did it rise above the normal?
  • If fire broke out, how long did it last and what damage did it cause?
In 1760, prompted in part by the Lisbon earthquake, the English Reverend John Michell published 'Conjectures concerning the Cause and Observations upon the Phænomena of Earthquakes' in the Royal Society’s journal, Philosophical Transactions, in which the first thoughts about faults, the Earth’s crust, and earthquake propagation by waves were put forth.

The Americas were not bereft of their own major events. The New Madrid earthquakes in December 1811 to February 1812, due to being ‘intraplate’ activity — in other words, the fault involved does not exist at a continental edge, but instead in the middle of generally very solid bedrock — rang churchbells in Boston, nearly 2000 kilometres away.

Robert Mallet is the next notable name in the Scientific study of earthquakes, and has been called the ‘father of seismology’. He published “On the Dynamics of Earthquakes” in The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. XXI, in 1846:
The present Paper constitutes, so far as I am aware, the first attempt to bring the phenomena of the earthquake within the range of exact science, by reducing to system the enormous mass of disconnected and often discordant and ill-observed facts which the multiplied narratives of earthquakes present, and educing from these, by an appeal to the established laws of the higher mechanics, a theory of earthquake motion.
With his son serving as assistant, he spent several years after publication using blasting powder to determine the speed of seismic propagation in sand and solid rock. He also studied a significant Neopolitan earthquake after the fact, using scientific observational techniques instead of untrained eyewitnesses; and published a further paper on volcanoes and their source of heat.

At the same time as Mallet was setting off explosions of gunpowder in England, Alexis Perrey, in France, was making quantitative analyses of catalogs of earthquakes. He published a paper on earthquakes in Algeria two years after Mallet’s paper, in 1848, in the journal Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Dijon. He particularly studied the position and phases of the moon at the time of seismic events.

In Italy, also starting in 1848, physicist Luigi Palmieri started studying Vesuvius in close detail. He invented an electromagnetic seismograph, one of which was installed near Mount Vesuvius and another at the University of Naples. These seismographs were the first seismic instruments capable of routinely detecting earthquakes imperceptible to human beings. With Swiss scientist François-Alphonse Forel, he co-created Rossi–Forel scale for determining the intensity of earthquakes.


A few decades later, Ōmori Fusakichi would pioneer seismology in Japan, doing extensive work with British scientific consultant John Milne, who had been hired by the Japanese government. Ōmori is best known in the field for his observation describing the aftershock rate of earthquakes, now known as Omori's law.

The field expanded from there from these first astute tools, and provides dramatic discoveries over a century into future from these beginnings. There is no detail too small in the study of earthquakes. John W. Judd said in his book:
In this way I have been led to dwell at some length upon subjects which might not at first sight appear to be germane to the question under discussion — such as the characters of lavas revealed to us by microscopic examination ; the nature and movements of the liquids enclosed in the crystals of igneous rocks; the relations of minerals occurring in some volcanic products to those found in meteorites; the nature and origin of the remarkable iron-masses found at Ovifak in Greenland; and the indications which have been discovered of analogies between the composition and dynamics of our earth and those of other members of the family of worlds to which it belongs.
Volcanoes: what they are and what they teach by John W. Judd, published 1881


References and further reading:


Æther Salon - Earthquakes! (Unedited Transcript)

[2016/04/17 14:04:55] Wildstar Beaumont: greetings !
[2016/04/17 14:04:55] Wulfriðe Blitzen: Abend Wildstar
[2016/04/17 14:05:16] Professor Woodsheart: Zantabraxus greetings to you too
[2016/04/17 14:05:42] Zantabraxus: Greetings, Admiral *smiles*
[2016/04/17 14:06:18] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Ah, I was hoping you would make it in time, sir.
[2016/04/17 14:06:44] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: All right, most of you will know this already, but a few points of 'housekeeping':
[2016/04/17 14:06:59] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: 1) To ensure you can hear the speaker, stand or sit on the patterned carpet.
[2016/04/17 14:07:33] Engacia: hear the speaker? i asked before i came if it was in text?
[2016/04/17 14:07:49] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: 2) We have chairs set out, and wearable chairs available; the directors' seats are for Tinies.
[2016/04/17 14:08:18] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: You are well within the chat boundaries, you should be fine.
[2016/04/17 14:08:22] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: 3) Please remove all lag-feeding thingamajigs you might be wearing.
[2016/04/17 14:08:34] Engacia: o! thank you for clarifying that, sir.
[2016/04/17 14:08:35] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: 4) A tip jar is out for our speaker. Do please show your appreciation!
[2016/04/17 14:08:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Bitte.
[2016/04/17 14:08:57] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: 5) Any tips to help support the establishment will also be welcome - just click on one of the support signs or this handsome clank floating above us.
[2016/04/17 14:08:59] Engacia turns off her cellphone.
[2016/04/17 14:09:10] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: 6) If you are not a member of the AEther Salon group, there are signs that will let you join up. You'll be most heartily welcome.
[2016/04/17 14:09:21] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: 7) Edited and unedited transcripts of these proceedings will be posted at aethersalon.blogspot.com.
[2016/04/17 14:09:34] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: 8) Tea and treats are set out - help yourself! Beware of lurking Hatchies guarding the sweet biscuits.
[2016/04/17 14:09:57] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: To introduce your surprise speaker today, I should like to say: Guten Abend.
[2016/04/17 14:10:57] Wulfriðe Blitzen applauds
[2016/04/17 14:11:15] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Our regular and replacement speakers had schedule misfortunes. I have been a citizen of the Steamlands for nearly a decade now, and proprietor of the Salon for... I've quite lost track. Four years now?
[2016/04/17 14:12:12] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: I am a multi-field scientist who specialises in brain functionality, but today I bring you an entirely different subject, and one that is timely for this week - Earthquakes.
[2016/04/17 14:12:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Earthquakes have been recorded throughout human history, oft-times explained in their immensity as the actions of gods such as Poseidon, or ‘a great battle between a thunderbird and a whale’. However, Science in its early forms investigated earthquakes as well.
[2016/04/17 14:13:23] Zantabraxus: Greetings to our new arrivals *smiles* Please have a seat wherever you wish.
[2016/04/17 14:13:33] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: I quote:
[2016/04/17 14:13:42] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The theories that have been put forward up to the present date are three, and their authors three men, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, and before him Anaximenes of Miletus, and later Democritus of Abdera.
[2016/04/17 14:13:55] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Anaxagoras says that the ether, which naturally moves upwards, is caught in hollows below the earth and so shakes it, for though the earth is really all of it equally porous, its surface is clogged up by rain….
[2016/04/17 14:14:08] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Democritus says that the earth is full of water and that when a quantity of rain-water is added to this an earthquake is the result.
[2016/04/17 14:14:20] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The hollows in the earth being unable to admit the excess of water it forces its way in and so causes an earthquake.
[2016/04/17 14:14:32] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Or again, the earth as it dries draws the water from the fuller to the emptier parts, and the inrush of the water as it changes its place causes the earthquake.
[2016/04/17 14:14:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Anaximenes says that the earth breaks up when it grows wet or dry, and earthquakes are due to the fall of these masses as they break away.
[2016/04/17 14:14:43] Sera Puchkina: interesting!
[2016/04/17 14:14:54] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Hence earthquakes take place in times of drought and again of heavy rain, since, as we have explained, the earth grows dry in time of drought and breaks up, whereas the rain makes it sodden and destroys its cohesion.
[2016/04/17 14:15:11] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Aristotle refuted the flaws he found in their theories, and ‘...that not water nor earth is the cause of earthquakes but wind-that is, the inrush of the external evaporation into the earth,’ due to the dynamic nature of air.
[2016/04/17 14:15:27] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Pliny in his Natural History, stated:
[2016/04/17 14:15:42] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The Babylonians were of Opinion, that Earthquakes and Chasms, and all other Occurrences of this Nature, are occasioned by the Influence of the Planets : bat of those three only to which they attribute Lightnings. And it is effected by the Means of their keeping their Course with the Sun, or meeting with him: and especially when this Concurrence is about the Quadratures of the Heaven.
[2016/04/17 14:15:59] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: In other words, earthquakes are caused by the electrical influences of specific planets in specific configurations.
[2016/04/17 14:16:15] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: In 426 BC, the Greek historian Thucydides inquired in his book History of the Peloponnesian War about the causes of tsunami, and was the first to argue that ocean earthquakes must be the cause.
[2016/04/17 14:16:24] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Quoting:
[2016/04/17 14:16:37] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The cause, in my opinion, of this phenomenon must be sought in the earthquake. At the point where its shock has been the most violent the sea is driven back, and suddenly recoiling with redoubled force, causes the inundation. Without an earthquake I do not see how such an accident could happen.
[2016/04/17 14:16:39] Blossom Love: Hi!
[2016/04/17 14:16:59] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Some centuries after the Greek philosophers, the Spark Chang Hêng of the Han Chinese Imperial court also theorised that earthquakes were caused by air:
[2016/04/17 14:17:10] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The chief cause of earthquake is air, an element naturally swift and shifting from place to place. As long as it is not stirred, but lurks in a vacant space, it reposes innocently, giving no trouble to objects around it.
[2016/04/17 14:17:22] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: But any cause coming upon it from without rouses it, or compresses it, and drives it into a narrow space ... and when opportunity of escape is cut off, then 'With deep murmur of the Mountain it roars around the barriers', which after long battering it dislodges and tosses on high, growing more fierce the stronger the obstacle with which it has contended.
[2016/04/17 14:17:38] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: However, he did something about it and created the first practical ‘earthquake weathervane’ or seismometer:
[2016/04/17 14:18:00] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The picture of this device is to my right.
[2016/04/17 14:18:11] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: His clever and sensitive device used a pendulum to trigger a ball-drop through one of the eight tubes decorated as dragons to indicate the direction in which the government should send aid. The Occident would take some centuries to catch up to this level of detection, unfortunately.
[2016/04/17 14:18:33] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: When Science started to overtake other methods for explaining the world, these antique theories, and the records of observers, explorers and sailors became vital to developing new and more rigorous theories of the origins of earthquakes, and means to measure and predict them. The massive Lisbon earthquake of 1755 gave impetus to a Scientific approach to earthquakes, although the actual Science of Seismology did not develop as a named discipline until well into the 1800s.
[2016/04/17 14:18:59] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Let us establish some definitions for those who may not have dabbled in the Geological Sciences:
[2016/04/17 14:19:12] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the perceptible shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves.
[2016/04/17 14:19:28] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocentre. The epicentre is the point at ground level directly above the hypocentre.
[2016/04/17 14:19:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and Sparks.
[2016/04/17 14:20:06] Tepic Harlequin: so... not trapped air then?
[2016/04/17 14:20:22] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Nein, despite the previous centuries of thought.
[2016/04/17 14:20:27] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * A fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock. They may be found where plates meet or where stresses have damaged the stratum. There are several specific terms for faults depending on the motion of the two sides relative to each other
[2016/04/17 14:21:15] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Above is a diagram of the types of faults. Combinations of vertical and horizonal movement are possible, causing different effect to the surface.
[2016/04/17 14:21:32] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Portugal’s disaster provoked some of the first seismically-protected construction in Europe. Models were tested by having troops march around them to simulate ground shaking. The Prime Minister the Marquis de Pombal sent out an analytical survey that looks surprisingly like what one might find on the aether-net currently:
[2016/04/17 14:21:57] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * At what time did the earthquake begin and how long did the earthquake last?
[2016/04/17 14:22:08] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * Did you perceive the shock to be greater from one direction than another? Example, from north to south? Did buildings seem to fall more to one side than the other?
[2016/04/17 14:22:17] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * How many people died and were any of them distinguished?
[2016/04/17 14:22:22] Tepic Harlequin wonders why it's the earth's fault it has quakes...
[2016/04/17 14:22:25] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * Did the sea rise or fall first, and how many hands did it rise above the normal?
[2016/04/17 14:22:34] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: * If fire broke out, how long did it last and what damage did it cause?
[2016/04/17 14:23:00] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: n 1760, prompted in part by the Lisbon earthquake, the English Reverend John Michell published "Conjectures concerning the Cause and Observations upon the Phænomena of Earthquakes" in the Royal Society’s journal, Philosophical Transactions, in which the first thoughts about faults, the Earth’s crust, and earthquake propagation by waves were put forth.
[2016/04/17 14:23:46] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The Americas were not bereft of their own major events. The New Madrid earthquakes in December 1811 to February 1812, due to being ‘intraplate’ activity - in other words, the fault involved does not exist at a continental edge, but instead in the middle of generally very solid bedrock - rang churchbells in Boston, nearly 2000 kilometres away.
[2016/04/17 14:24:13] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Robert Mallet is the next notable name in the Scientific study of earthquakes, and has been called the ‘father of seismology’. He published “On the Dynamics of Earthquakes” in The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. XXI in 1846:
[2016/04/17 14:24:32] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: I quote:
[2016/04/17 14:24:35] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The present Paper constitutes, so far as I am aware, the first attempt to bring the phenomena of the earthquake within the range of exact science, by reducing to system the enormous mass of disconnected and often discordant and ill-observed facts which the multiplied narratives of earthquakes present, and educing from these, by an appeal to the established laws of the higher mechanics, a theory of earthquake motion.
[2016/04/17 14:25:09] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: With his son serving as assistant, he spent several years after publication using blasting powder to determine the speed of seismic propagation in sand and solid rock.
[2016/04/17 14:25:23] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: He also studied a significant Neopolitan earthquake after the fact, using scientific observational techniques instead of untrained eyewitnesses; and published a further paper on volcanoes and their source of heat.
[2016/04/17 14:25:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: At the same time as Mallet was setting off explosions of gunpowder in England, Alexis Perrey, in France, was making quantitative analyses of catalogs of earthquakes.
[2016/04/17 14:25:59] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: He published a paper on earthquakes in Algeria two years after Mallet’s paper, in 1848, in the journal Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Dijon.
[2016/04/17 14:26:10] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: He particularly studied the position and phases of the moon at the time of seismic events.
[2016/04/17 14:26:27] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: In Italy, also starting in 1848, physicist Luigi Palmieri started studying Vesuvius in close detail. He invented an electromagnetic seismograph, one of which was installed near Mount Vesuvius and another at the University of Naples.
[2016/04/17 14:26:45] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: These seismographs were the first seismic instruments capable of routinely detecting earthquakes imperceptible to human beings.
[2016/04/17 14:27:48] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: There is a photograph of one of these seismographs behind me, and a simpler diagram of how one works to my left.
[2016/04/17 14:27:56] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: With Swiss scientist François-Alphonse Forel, he co-created Rossi–Forel scale for determining the intensity of earthquakes.
[2016/04/17 14:28:16] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: A few decades later, Omori Fusakichi would pioneer seismology in Japan, doing extensive work with British scientific consultant John Milne, who had been hired by the Japanese government. Omori is best known in the field for his observation describing the aftershock rate of earthquakes, now known as Omori's law.
[2016/04/17 14:28:48] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The field expanded from there from these first astute tools, and provides dramatic discoveries over a century into future from these beginnings. There is no detail too small in the study of earthquakes. John W. Judd said in his book:
[2016/04/17 14:29:17] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: In this way I have been led to dwell at some length upon subjects which might not at first sight appear to be germane to the question under discussion — such as the characters of lavas revealed to us by microscopic examination ;
[2016/04/17 14:29:31] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: the nature and movements of the liquids enclosed in the crystals of igneous rocks;
[2016/04/17 14:29:37] Tepic Harlequin: scuse me yer Baronship, it's a very interestin talk, but time ter milk me voles..... night all!
[2016/04/17 14:29:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: the relations of minerals occurring in some volcanic products to those found in meteorites;
[2016/04/17 14:29:57] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: the nature and origin of the remarkable iron-masses found at Ovifak in Greenland; and the indications which have been discovered of analogies between the composition and dynamics of our earth and those of other members of the family of worlds to which it belongs.
[2016/04/17 14:30:00] Wulfriðe Blitzen: Night Tepic!
[2016/04/17 14:30:08] Sera Puchkina whispers: Good night Tepic
[2016/04/17 14:30:40] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: He wrote that in his publication Volcanoes: what they are and what they teach -- by John W. Judd, published 1881
[2016/04/17 14:31:08] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: For those of you who might be interested in some reading on these phenomena:
[2016/04/17 14:31:16] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: “On the Dynamics of Earthquakes”, The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. XXI
[2016/04/17 14:31:22] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: https://archive.org/stream/transactionsofro21iris#page/n63/mode/2up
[2016/04/17 14:31:33] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The Orphan Tsunami of 1700: Japanese Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America
[2016/04/17 14:31:40] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1707/pp1707.pdf
[2016/04/17 14:32:01] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: (This is a particularly fascinating bit of research, with the original Japanese documents carefully translated.)
[2016/04/17 14:32:13] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: And with a lighter touch:
[2016/04/17 14:32:21] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: A Volcanolady's Blog: 19th Century Facts: The World of Dr. Lettie Gantry and Tom Turner
https://volcanolady.com/19th-century-facts-the-world-of-dr-lettie-gantry-and-tom-turner/
[2016/04/17 14:32:54] Sera Puchkina: Thank you for the links, sir.
[2016/04/17 14:33:20] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: There is considerably more that one could add to the subject, of course, but for now - are there any questions?
[2016/04/17 14:33:24] Engacia: may i suggest that the underlying cause of the shifting plates is due to the release of the pressurized heat emanating from the core of the earth...this pressure, in and of itself, finds its way around the plates pushing them to and for as it makes, or works, its way to the nearest outlet...that being a volcano. i would further suggest that volcanoes obviously do not erupt simultaneously with the advent of an earthquake but some time after. some of us are aware of the constant steams of hot water deep beneath our oceans. also, that lame theory aside, the scientists feel, given the two geographically and diametrically opposite recent quakes, that an even bigger one will happen soon. i, myself, think that the earth will split in two. :))
[2016/04/17 14:33:27] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Bitte, Fraulein.
[2016/04/17 14:34:09] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: I know some folk who have tried to split it in two on occasion. Thankfully, they have not succeeded.
[2016/04/17 14:34:25] Engacia laughs!
[2016/04/17 14:35:10] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Herr Mallet's work started seismology along that very path, in fact.
[2016/04/17 14:35:11] Wulfriðe Blitzen: Certainly various Japanese paintings have been inspired by such events
[2016/04/17 14:36:15] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: There is a particular painting in that one volume where the waves from the distant earthquake are noted in the increments they reached the shore, with careful notes. If one could not read the language, it would seem just another pleasant landscape with Fujiyama in the background.
[2016/04/17 14:37:50] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The most current theories is that the Earth's crust is made of massive rafts of rock floating - with appropriate geological speed, of course - on magma, molten rock. Where the edges of these plates collide, we have seismic events of various sorts, as M~ Engacia was mentioning.
[2016/04/17 14:38:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: However, the New Madrid event in the New World was over what is called a 'aulacogen'.
[2016/04/17 14:39:07] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Imagine, if you would, the whole North American continent splitting down the centre and floating away.
[2016/04/17 14:39:25] Raspberry with Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookie whispers: Oh my ... the raspberry combined with the dark chocolate makes this cookie to die for!
[2016/04/17 14:39:39] Engacia: :))
[2016/04/17 14:39:43] Sera Puchkina: my!
[2016/04/17 14:39:50] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: That is nearly what happened - but instead, the rifting failed, and the crack in the bedrock filled with looser and softer materials, not as strong as the rock around it.
[2016/04/17 14:41:00] Jimmy Branagh sneaks in quietly
[2016/04/17 14:41:01] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: I am sure you are all familiar with the shaking of an earthquake, but what happened in this American town, because this crack also formed a river valley, was something called 'liquefaction'. The vibrations of the earthquake turned the ground into quicksand.
[2016/04/17 14:41:31] Engacia: !
[2016/04/17 14:42:20] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The effect were so much more drastic because the bedrock of the plate had no way to relieve the stress that is normally shed when the sides of the fault slide along each other.
[2016/04/17 14:42:40] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The rock rang like those bells it vibrated so far awy.
[2016/04/17 14:43:07] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Any other questions or comments?
[2016/04/17 14:43:12] Beatrice Delacroix: like ding ding or bong bong?
[2016/04/17 14:43:24] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: BONG BONG.
[2016/04/17 14:43:36] Blossom Love: I just wanted to see if Creaky was here.
[2016/04/17 14:43:57] Beatrice Delacroix: Wouldn't that be creak creak?
[2016/04/17 14:44:22] Liz Wilner: Baron...forgive me as I arrived a bit late...perhaps you already discussed this
[2016/04/17 14:44:36] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Ja, Duchess?
[2016/04/17 14:44:46] Engacia: apparently those cities built on deltas in earthquake zones will be swallowed whole.
[2016/04/17 14:44:52] Blossom Love is confused
[2016/04/17 14:45:00] Liz Wilner: but I wonder how likely a mega quake will happen for the West Coast of the US cionsidering the "Ring of Fire" is so very active now
[2016/04/17 14:45:15] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: They will likely take additional damage, M~ Engacia.
[2016/04/17 14:45:18] Liz Wilner: Ecquador was devastated just today
[2016/04/17 14:45:27] Wulfriðe Blitzen nods
[2016/04/17 14:45:33] Wulfriðe Blitzen: And poor Japan too
[2016/04/17 14:45:45] Liz Wilner: oh yes...Japan...twice this week
[2016/04/17 14:45:50] Sera Puchkina: Tragic!
[2016/04/17 14:46:02] Zantabraxus nods
[2016/04/17 14:46:03] Wulfriðe Blitzen nods sadly
[2016/04/17 14:46:03] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Duchess, as I understand the science of it, the Ring of Fire is not a single entity at all, but a convenient collective name - like 'the Steamlands'.
[2016/04/17 14:46:54] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The Pacific plate, which is generally shrinking, is interacting with many other plates around its borders. There is no sure method of prediction even this far into the future.
[2016/04/17 14:47:38] Beatrice Delacroix: Which plate is growing?
[2016/04/17 14:47:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: However, the seismologists can study the records from centuries prior and make estimates of when major events might happen.
[2016/04/17 14:47:49] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The Atlantic is spreading.
[2016/04/17 14:48:22] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The Mid-Oceanic Ridge, which runs near the Canary Islands, is increasing the width of that ocean.
[2016/04/17 14:48:44] Liz Wilner: the sea levels along the nothern East Coast are rising
[2016/04/17 14:48:49] Liz Wilner: so I've read
[2016/04/17 14:50:03] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: I found some interesting predictions about the same plate which caused the earthquake and tsunami of 1700. There are serious concerns about an event taking place within the next 50 years, something of a serious magnitude which will cause damage to the coastal cities grown during the fault's quiescence.
[2016/04/17 14:50:37] Liz Wilner: and the Yellowstone Caldera? I've heard that is making rumblins of the last few years
[2016/04/17 14:50:38] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The plate is not the Pacific plate, in this case, but the 'Juan del Fuca' plate diving under North America.
[2016/04/17 14:50:51] Beatrice Delacroix gasps
[2016/04/17 14:51:08] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The Juan del Fuca is the remnant of a plate that used to be the size of the Pacific all by itself.
[2016/04/17 14:51:37] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: As to Yellowstone... quite a different matter, and a different source.
[2016/04/17 14:51:53] Liz Wilner: ah
[2016/04/17 14:53:02] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: That is caused by a 'hotspot'. If you look at the islands in the Pacific, the Hawai'
[2016/04/17 14:53:17] Liz Wilner: where do you estimate a zone of safety will be should "the big one" happen out West?
[2016/04/17 14:53:19] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Ahem. The Hawai'ian chain is caused by one as well
[2016/04/17 14:53:37] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: It depends on the source. Fault or Spark?
[2016/04/17 14:53:40] Beatrice Delacroix: Kansas
[2016/04/17 14:53:56] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach chuckles
[2016/04/17 14:54:00] Engacia: for someone who specializes in quakes of the grey matter, you are immanently versed in quakes of planetary magnitude...speaking of which...do any of our planets have planetquakes?
[2016/04/17 14:54:33] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Bitte, 'our planets'? Other planets in our system, you mean?
[2016/04/17 14:54:41] Engacia: yes
[2016/04/17 14:55:08] Sera Puchkina quietly applauds and congratulates the honored speaker and leaves
[2016/04/17 14:55:11] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Indeed they do, but obviously harder to measure and record from here.
[2016/04/17 14:55:33] Wulfriðe Blitzen: Take care Sera
[2016/04/17 14:55:39] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: I have seen articles about Titan, Saturn's moon, where it has icequakes.
[2016/04/17 14:55:43] Jimmy Branagh waves
[2016/04/17 14:56:12] Engacia: thank you :)
[2016/04/17 14:56:21] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: It depends on how much heat is retained inside the planetary body. The heat acts as an engine for currents of magma.
[2016/04/17 14:56:42] Engacia: ah!
[2016/04/17 14:56:50] Liz Wilner: and that causes icequakes?
[2016/04/17 14:57:07] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: We have only four minutes left of the hour, so let me thank you all before you scatter. The Salon appreciates your attendance and patronage.
[2016/04/17 14:57:24] Jimmy Branagh applauds
[2016/04/17 14:57:33] Liz Wilner applauds
[2016/04/17 14:57:35] Zantabraxus applauds
[2016/04/17 14:57:35] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The materials which make up Titan are far colder than the ones here, but the dynamics work the same way.
[2016/04/17 14:57:38] Anoch Sgaithan: herr professor
[2016/04/17 14:57:56] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Ja?
[2016/04/17 14:58:28] Anoch Sgaithan: I have stumbled on an interesting collection of data, may I share It?
[2016/04/17 14:58:40] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: All right.
[2016/04/17 14:58:45] Anoch Sgaithan: http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
[2016/04/17 14:58:54] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Ahhh, I see. Danke.
[2016/04/17 14:59:01] Anoch Sgaithan: It shows most recent activities
[2016/04/17 14:59:41] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: The amount of data able to be collected quickly is truly amazing and wonderful.
[2016/04/17 15:00:20] Liz Wilner: fascinating
[2016/04/17 15:00:22] Anoch Sgaithan: it is indeed
[2016/04/17 15:00:56] OldeSoul Eldemar: *living near the New Madrid Fault - it is a very interesting topic sir
[2016/04/17 15:00:57] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: There are many more resources than those I mentioned, and I will list a few more documents when the transcripts are published.
[2016/04/17 15:01:11] OldeSoul Eldemar: danke
[2016/04/17 15:01:45] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Lord Eldemar, the vastness of its history is breathtaking. The what-could-have been, and the what-might-be.
[2016/04/17 15:02:11] OldeSoul Eldemar: It is truly interesting to teach in school
[2016/04/17 15:02:30] Liz Wilner: Bravo, Baron...well done...very informative...thank you!
[2016/04/17 15:02:37] Engacia applauses with gusto and quake-able, tremulous gratitude!
[2016/04/17 15:02:38] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Very kind, Your Grace.
[2016/04/17 15:02:44] Samantha Linnaeus: "Thank you Herr Baron."
[2016/04/17 15:02:44] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach bows
[2016/04/17 15:02:44] Jimmy Branagh: Danke Herr Baron!
[2016/04/17 15:02:54] Jimmy Branagh applauds
[2016/04/17 15:02:59] Wildstar Beaumont applauds
[2016/04/17 15:03:02] Wulfriðe Blitzen applauds
[2016/04/17 15:03:09] OldeSoul Eldemar: Danke Herr Baron ! Wonderful job !
[2016/04/17 15:03:33] Zantabraxus applauds and blows Klaus a kiss
[2016/04/17 15:03:38] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: I appreciate that even more from you, Lord Eldemar.
[2016/04/17 15:03:46] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach smiles at his lovely wife
[2016/04/17 15:03:55] Bixyl Shuftan claps
[2016/04/17 15:03:56] Anoch Sgaithan: most informative Herr Baron...tapadh leibh
[2016/04/17 15:04:06] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Bitte.
[2016/04/17 15:04:12] Zantabraxus grins at Olde
[2016/04/17 15:04:12] OldeSoul Eldemar: Take care everyone and have a wonderful day !
[2016/04/17 15:04:23] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Gute Nacht, those leaving.
[2016/04/17 15:04:27] Wulfriðe Blitzen: Thank you all for coming. Alas our appointed speaker was rushed to hospital, but she has promised to do her talk on the Secret Service when she is able.
[2016/04/17 15:04:39] Jimmy Branagh: Bye awl!
[2016/04/17 15:04:42] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: How is she today?
[2016/04/17 15:04:55] Jimmy Branagh bows to the Baron and Baronin and splits
[2016/04/17 15:04:59] Wulfriðe Blitzen: She is faring much better. I will pass on everyone's best wishes
[2016/04/17 15:05:06] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Danke.
[2016/04/17 15:05:11] OldeSoul Eldemar: thank you !
[2016/04/17 15:05:49] Wulfriðe Blitzen smiles and wishes everyone a good week ahead
[2016/04/17 15:05:54] Bixyl Shuftan tips his hat
[2016/04/17 15:06:05] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Herr Bixyl.
[2016/04/17 15:06:07] Bixyl Shuftan: you too
[2016/04/17 15:06:09] Wildstar Beaumont: good night everybody ... great job Herr Baron
[2016/04/17 15:06:11] Samantha Linnaeus curtsies and slips out the door
[2016/04/17 15:06:16] Bixyl Shuftan: Have a good day everyone
[2016/04/17 15:06:22] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Good to see you, Admiral.
[2016/04/17 15:06:23] Liz Wilner: I must dash...thank you, Baron...wonderful talk :)
[2016/04/17 15:06:23] Bixyl Shuftan: and yes, good job :-)
[2016/04/17 15:06:38] Zantabraxus: Good day, Liz. thank you so much for coming.
[2016/04/17 15:06:47] Zantabraxus smiles at her and Wildstar both
[2016/04/17 15:06:56] Wildstar Beaumont smiles back and nods
[2016/04/17 15:07:00] Liz Wilner: goodnight, Zanta...good to see you :)
[2016/04/17 15:07:10] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Gute Nacht.
[2016/04/17 15:07:18] Liz Wilner: Gute nacht
[2016/04/17 15:07:32] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Frau Gräfin! Congratulations for staying stuck to the grid.
[2016/04/17 15:07:40] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach grins
[2016/04/17 15:07:41] Wulfriðe Blitzen chuckles
[2016/04/17 15:07:45] Wulfriðe Blitzen: I threw out an anchor
[2016/04/17 15:07:48] Zantabraxus: Klaus, look at what I have found.
[2016/04/17 15:08:00] Zantabraxus: It is a little urchin.
[2016/04/17 15:08:25] Engacia: thank you, sir baron and fare well, good souls, until we meet again...
[2016/04/17 15:08:37] Wulfriðe Blitzen: Thank you for coming, Engacia :)
[2016/04/17 15:08:37] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Indeed. How did you enjoy the talk, Fraulein Beatrice?
[2016/04/17 15:08:44] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Danke, M~ Engacia.
[2016/04/17 15:09:10] Zantabraxus: Farewell, Engacia. Please come again next month, as you please.
[2016/04/17 15:09:14] Engacia: ...thank you.
[2016/04/17 15:09:17] Beatrice Delacroix: it was interesting.
[2016/04/17 15:10:11] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: It is such a new science, it is almost like a switch was thrown between the days of old and the early 1800s.
[2016/04/17 15:10:20] Beatrice Delacroix: but you said that word twice
[2016/04/17 15:10:45] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Erm... the name of the plate?
[2016/04/17 15:11:08] Beatrice Delacroix: What would Juan's mommy say if she heard you say that?
[2016/04/17 15:11:14] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach hides a smile
[2016/04/17 15:11:31] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: It is a real name, even if it might sound a little naughty in English.
[2016/04/17 15:12:10] Beatrice Delacroix nods
[2016/04/17 15:12:30] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: You are allowed to say it, as long as you are not using it incorrectly.
[2016/04/17 15:13:38] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: You could call him Ioánnis Phokás instead if you like, but Spanish is easier.
[2016/04/17 15:14:07] Beatrice Delacroix: Oh my.
[2016/04/17 15:14:12] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach chuckles
[2016/04/17 15:15:04] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: He was an important sailor and explorer many years ago.
[2016/04/17 15:16:20] Beatrice Delacroix: That sounds like a sailor
[2016/04/17 15:18:23] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Bitte, Beatrice, do you need the Baronin and me to walk you home? Or do you live nearby?
[2016/04/17 15:19:00] Beatrice Delacroix: Nope. I'm just around and stuff
[2016/04/17 15:19:44] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Feel welcome to stop in at the Consulate. I think we have cookies out there, too.
[2016/04/17 15:19:51] Beatrice Delacroix: Oooh
[2016/04/17 15:20:08] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach winks at Zanta
[2016/04/17 15:20:20] Zantabraxus: Sweet cakes too. Stay out of the absinthe.
[2016/04/17 15:20:27] Beatrice Delacroix: Bye Mr Baron.
[2016/04/17 15:20:33] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Gute Nacht.
[2016/04/17 15:20:34] Zantabraxus: Goodbye, Beatrice.