Hi dh. The first atomic bomb in the Maralinga, Australia was about equal in power to that which destroyed Hiroshima. This was around 12.5 kilotons of TNT. The device had been suspended from a 110 meter tower. The most distant seismograph known to have recorded it was at Southern Cross, 1000kms away.

Only near the detonation point was ground motion felt, but people living hundreds of kilometers away heard the sound waves through the air. At Cook two or three distinct blasts were heard about 12 to 13 minutes after the detonation flash. At Kingoonya, 400kms from Maralinga, there was an explosion like a clap of thunder, shutters rattled and houses shook. On the coast, 300kms away at Ceduna, two large bangs rang out- like sticks of dynamite going off.

Having worked at an explosive ordnance manufacturing plant for 23 years I know that some of the explosions we had were detected by our seismograph, but not the one located at San Juan Bautista, which is about 8km to the west. Most if not all of our explosions were less then 50lbs.

I think it would be possible for some seismographs in the vicinity to record the explosions. I would say not more then 300Km for the 1000 pounders that will most likely be some of the bombs dropped. Maybe not even that far.

It would be interesting to see if there are any reports of seismographs recording any of the explosions. I don’t know of any creditable reports during the Desert Storm war. Take Care…Don in creepy town