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LOS ANGELES, (AFP) - An earthquake that unleashed deadly tidal waves on Asia was so powerful it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map, US geophysicists said.
…
"That earthquake has changed the map," US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut told AFP.
"Based on seismic modeling, some of the smaller islands off the southwest coast of Sumatra may have moved to the southwest by about 20 meters. That is a lot of slip."
The northwestern tip of the Indonesian territory of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by around 36 meters (120 feet), Hudnut said.
In addition, the energy released as the two sides of the undersea fault slipped against each other made the Earth wobble on its axis, Hudnut said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...41228/sc_afp/asiaquakeusmapshift_041228041350
The earthquake that created Sunday's devastating tsunami (search) off the coast of Sumatra (search) was extremely rare and extremely powerful — at least 23,000 times as strong as the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima (search) in 1945, according to geophysicists.
The 9.0 quake caused a seismic shift (search) so intense, it shook the planet like a bell being rung, wobbling the Earth on its axis and permanently altering the map, moving some islands in the region more than 20 meters.
It was the Earth's most powerful quake in 40 years and one of top five of the past century.
Tectonic plates slipped against each other six miles below earth's surface, displacing a huge volume of water. It resembled a speed bump as it moved at hundreds of miles per hour below the surface — only to rise as high as 40 feet as it approached land.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news...2210002914596&dt=20041229022100&w=RTR&coview=
Where are all the dead animals? Sri Lanka asks
COLOMBO, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan wildlife officials are stunned -- the worst tsunami in memory has killed around 22,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast, but they can't find any dead animals.
Giant waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.
"The strange thing is we haven't recorded any dead animals," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of the national Wildlife Department, told Reuters on Wednesday.
"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit," he added. "I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,142776,00.html
…
"That earthquake has changed the map," US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut told AFP.
"Based on seismic modeling, some of the smaller islands off the southwest coast of Sumatra may have moved to the southwest by about 20 meters. That is a lot of slip."
The northwestern tip of the Indonesian territory of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by around 36 meters (120 feet), Hudnut said.
In addition, the energy released as the two sides of the undersea fault slipped against each other made the Earth wobble on its axis, Hudnut said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...41228/sc_afp/asiaquakeusmapshift_041228041350
The earthquake that created Sunday's devastating tsunami (search) off the coast of Sumatra (search) was extremely rare and extremely powerful — at least 23,000 times as strong as the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima (search) in 1945, according to geophysicists.
The 9.0 quake caused a seismic shift (search) so intense, it shook the planet like a bell being rung, wobbling the Earth on its axis and permanently altering the map, moving some islands in the region more than 20 meters.
It was the Earth's most powerful quake in 40 years and one of top five of the past century.
Tectonic plates slipped against each other six miles below earth's surface, displacing a huge volume of water. It resembled a speed bump as it moved at hundreds of miles per hour below the surface — only to rise as high as 40 feet as it approached land.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news...2210002914596&dt=20041229022100&w=RTR&coview=
Where are all the dead animals? Sri Lanka asks
COLOMBO, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan wildlife officials are stunned -- the worst tsunami in memory has killed around 22,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast, but they can't find any dead animals.
Giant waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.
"The strange thing is we haven't recorded any dead animals," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of the national Wildlife Department, told Reuters on Wednesday.
"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit," he added. "I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,142776,00.html
