Geology
State of Health
First Death Reported from the Napa Quake
The magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck Aug. 24. (Craig Miller/KQED) A 65-year-old woman who suffered a head injury when a television struck her during last month's earthquake in California's wine country has died — the first death attributed to the magnitude-6.0 quake, sheriff's officials said. Laurie Anne Thompson was at her Napa home during ...Read More
KQED Science
Quake-Revived Streams Could Keep Flowing for a While
The Napa quake jump-started several streams in the Napa and adjoining valleys, but how long they'll run and where the water is coming from is hard to pin down.
KQED Science
Scientists Concerned as San Andreas Fault Observatory Seeks Additional Funds
A few million dollars -- that's all scientists ask for to revive a breakthrough underground laboratory sitting precisely on the San Andreas fault.
KQED Science
Napa Quake Forces Redrawing of Fault Maps
Some surprises emerge, which could lead to additional building restrictions in the Napa Valley.
KQED Science
Now That the Shaking’s Over from the South Napa Earthquake, Read This Comic
Among the helpful advice and resources that government agencies are sharing after the South Napa earthquake, the most effective product may be the newly released comic book "Without Warning."
KQED Science
South Napa Quake: What Scientists Know So Far
Scientists are still trying to find out more about the fault where Sunday’s earthquake occurred. They are focusing on the small West Napa Fault.
KQED Science
UC Berkeley System Gave Early Warning of South Napa Earthquake
Ten seconds before the South Napa Earthquake struck, UC Berkeley’s ShakeAlert detected the quake.
KQED Science
What Causes Earthquakes?
The earth is constantly shifting and the Earth’s crust is broken up into many rocky plates, like pieces of a puzzle.
KQED Science
Epic Drought in West Is Literally Moving Mountains
Some parts of California’s mountains have been uplifted by as much as half an inch in the past 18 months because the massive amount of water lost in the drought is no longer weighing down the land, causing it to rise a bit like an uncoiled spring.
KQED Science
New-Generation Earthquake Forecasting Swings into Operation in Italy
Italy is approaching the next frontier in earthquake forecasting: an "operational" system that will make quake forecasts routine, whose contents we can take in stride.
KQED Science
Parks Attract Affluent Homeowners to Earthquake Fault Zones Despite Risks
The Alquist-Priolo law keeps new homes away from active earthquake faults. But a study finds that the resulting 'fault zone parks' attract wealthy residents despite the seismic hazard.
KQED Science
A Simple Mineral Has Geochemical Power That Helps Spark Life
New work shows that the simple mineral sphalerite has geochemical powers suitable for helping life to arise from precursors in the mineral kingdom.
KQED Science
Oklahoma Study Offers Better Insight into Industrial Earthquakes
A new study adds strong evidence that deep-injection wells can occasionally nudge a fault into activity. The key is figuring out how it happens, then learning to avoid whatever is making it happen.
KQED Science
Studying Exoplanets: What A Thousand Points of Light Might Reveal About Earth
As a flood of new exoplanets swim into our ken, we have ways of turning these pixel-size steams of data into insights about our own planet.
KQED Science
New Evidence of Earth’s Deep Water Cycle Reveals A Virtual Buried Ocean
New evidence from high-pressure experiments and earthquake waves suggests the presence of water-rich melt at the base of the upper mantle, far deeper than previous estimates.
The California Report
Groundwater Pumping Causing Land to Sink in Coachella Valley
Even before the drought, farmers around California were sucking down the groundwater faster than the environment could keep up. Now, the U.S. Geological Survey reports the practice has caused land in the Coachella Valley to sink up to two feet in some places. ...Read More
KQED Science
Plastic Substance Created by Pollution Yields a New Word: Plastiglomerate
When future geologists, whatever species they may be, look for our signs in the fossil record of the future, it may be this newly described amalgam of plastic and sediment.
KQED Science
Progress in Earthquake Forecasts May Come from Studying Foreshocks
Recent cutting-edge techniques are opening a new approach for earthquake forecasts by matching foreshocks -- small quakes occurring on the same stretch of fault that subsequently fails in the large mainshock -- to changes on the seafloor.