 March. 9, 2010 - msnbc.msn.com - LIVESCIENCE. This map, created by Project CAP (Central and Southern Andes GPS Project), shows the displacements of the Earth's crust caused by the Feb.27th Maule earthquake in Chile. Powerful temblor shifts others parts of South America as well.
The massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile more than a week ago moved the city of Concepción at least 10 feet (3 meters) to the west, seismological measurements indicate.
The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis," NASA officials said in a Monday update. The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds). The Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kph)...MORE... |
The violent temblor — the fifth most powerful quake ever measured — shifted other parts of South America as well, from the Falkland Islands (located just east of the southern tip of South America) to Fortaleza, Brazil, situated on that country's northern coast...more...
Seventh strongest quake in recorded history may have shifted Earth's axis. The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said.
