DISAPPEARING EARTHQUAKES?

It looks like the Martians have struck again! (satire intended)

Perhaps something got missed here. But I don’t think so.

I am in the process of updating my earthquake charts. And that requires lists of earthquakes having magnitudes of 3 and higher, or at least all significant earthquakes.

The USGS maintains one or more Web sites where recent earthquakes are listed. The main list goes back about 7 days in time. And then there is a secondary list that goes back from 8 to about 30 days in time.

Taking a quick look at that 30 day list, there appeared to be some significant earthquakes missing such as the 7.2 magnitude one that occurred in the Japan area on March 9, 2011. Checking further there appeared to be quite a few earthquakes missing.

Using the USGS “Search for earthquakes” Web page I had it list earthquakes having greater than 3 magnitude from January 1, 2011 to the present. And it shows that there were in fact quite a few earthquakes missing from that 30 list.

That 30 day list certainly won’t be trusted in the future, by me anyway!