Can you sing "plate tectonics"?

I mentioned the song Volcano, by the Presidents of the United States of America. Clearly they were affected by their post-Mount St. Helens days in Seattle. I heard one other rock song recently that contained the lyric "plate tectonics," I'll have to go back and find it. Do you know of any? Yes, I know there is probably some group playing in Santa Cruz named the Be Good Tanya Atwaters, but I'm thinking more mainstream here.

The Presidents sing Volcano live on the Jenny McCarthy show (take what she says about autism with many grains of salt):


Or go watch the embedding-protected studio version. I like the white lab coats, which all of us scientists wear. I wonder what the spectrum of those waves is like?

Now this is what I call rock music!

Lyrics:

Under the island... middle of a mountain
There is a big bad... boomin' system
Blowin' speakers... woofers and tweeters
Amplifiers... melted wires
The parties exploded... the core is corroded
Under ground... the Puget Sound
Cause a shiftin'... and a driftin'
Big black boom box...stuck in the hot rock
It's in there flowin'... it's in there growin'
You don't believe me... that this scenery
Could be a cold blooded killer

It's gonna blow... Volcano
It's gonna blow... Volcano
It's gonna blow... Volcano

Now the island is shiftin'... the plates are liftin'
The core is creamy...docile and dreamy
Stopped up and steamy
Happy campers... poop in there pampers
When the mountain... becomes a fountain
Of white hot lava... molten magma
Super sonic... plate tectonics
Sterophonic... lava and tonic
The boom is bionic
Sony shut down... magnavox meltdown
Ballistic breakdown
Hi-fi heatwave... lo-fi lava cave
That sulfur smells... Mt St Helens
Pompeii was yellin'...

It's gonna blow... Volcano
It's gonna blow... Volcano
It's gonna blow... Volcano
It's gonna blow... Volcano

Has it blown yet?

Redoubt Volcano seismograph locations:

Click on above for larger version
from Alaskan Volcanological Observatory

The current seismogram at AVO can be seen here. Notice all the activity, the fairly constant amplitude, and the high frequency signals.

If you live in Anchorage, better buy your goggles and dust mask!

"It's gonna blow... Volcano"

(Lyrics from the pop song Volcano, by Presidents of the United States of America)

I only have time for a short entry, but it looks like Mt. Redoubt in Alaska may erupt. One of the omens is the occurrence of harmonic tremors that accompany movement of magma through a volcano. Volcano seismicity is physically different from the tectonic earthquakes that we usually talk about.

Check out the situation at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Photo: Redoubt Volcano from the AVO observation hut. The dark flow was growing while work was performed on the Redoubt webcam. Taken 27 Jan., 2009. (www.avo.alaska.edu)

Theme cartoon for Shaking Earth?

I need a break from that Lancaster earthquake!

Maybe I need ... humor?

http://www.savagechickens.com/

This site seems pretty funny, but that could just be me.

Will Obama = better science?

from Union of Concerned Scientists

I wonder if seismographs could detect the huge crowds in Washington, DC, last Tuesday?

I don't want to get too political here, but I can't help but think the change in administration is a good thing for science. It's a sad day (or eight years) when science policy (not to mention other policies) are driven by a desired goal, and not by the evidence.

Many scientists seem to agree, according to the International Herald Tribune.

And, of course, don't feed the trolls, or bad science blogs!

Lancaster earthquakes - how dense are they?

Or, after another entry on the Lancaster earthquake, you might be asking how dense is Rob?

from http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_bcah_d.html

The gray color suggests that there is about 0.1 magnitude 5 earthquakes in that region per year, or only 1 every 10 years (which actually seems a bit high to me). But in the Lancaster area, colored white, the frequency is even less. This actually isn't a very interesting diagram here because of the paucity of large earthquakes. We'll have to look at this type of diagram later for a larger earthquake, presumably in some other part of the world near a plate boundary.

Seismic hazard map - it's not just a west coast thing

We're still not done with that pesky little Lancaster earthquake.

Keep going down the page there, and click on Seismic Hazard Map.

The main seismic hazard in this part of the country is from ground acceleration. The map suggests that in the Lancaster area, midway between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, there is a 20% chance that a seismic ground acceleration as high as 1/5 of gravitational acceleration will occur within a 50-year period of time. Doesn't sound all that dangerous. Any thoughts from others?

In other areas, the earthquake hazard can take on other forms.