A new study of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake shows boulders from rockfalls fell much further than in earlier quakes that happened before humans arrived and changed the landscape.
Large-scale natural experiments such as oil spills, tsunamis and climate change are things you wouldn’t want to do on purpose. But that doesn’t mean they’re not scientifically useful experiments too.
Yesterday’s earthquake in central Italy has resulted in many deaths. But it is not the earthquake that claims victims but our built infrastructure. Why is this so?
There are already early warning systems for earthquakes, but advances in seismology provide hope that experts will be able to predict when new ones will occur.
Fifty years on from a groundbreaking paper, geophysicists have progressed from believing continents never moved to thinking that every movement may leave a lasting memory on our planet.
When two major earthquakes occur within days of each other thousands of kilometres apart, it can look like they’re connected. But are they? Here’s what the science says.
The earth around you might seem static but it’s constantly in motion. We need to track this motion in fine detail if we’re to keep our GPS networks up to date.