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EARTHQUAKE HISTORY! How do we know what's going on when the earth shakes? Is this New England quake a freak occurrence? What do all these magnitude scales mean, anyhow?
--> A thread of some of the recent, readable books on earthquakes and how we study them.
--> A thread of some of the recent, readable books on earthquakes and how we study them.
On New England's surprising seismicity, a readable and well-researched history from my @BostonCollege colleague John Ebel, NEW ENGLAND EARTHQUAKES: https://bookshop.org/books/new-england-earthquakes-the-surprising-history-of-seismic-activity-in-the-northeast/9781493035779
@USGS seismologist and past president of the @SeismoSocietyAm Susan Hough @SeismoSue has published a wonderful series of books on earthquakes and earthquake science, most recently THE GREAT QUAKE DEBATE: https://bookshop.org/books/the-great-quake-debate-the-crusader-the-skeptic-and-the-rise-of-modern-seismology/9780295747361
But can't we figure out more about when to expect earthquakes? @SeismoSue has you covered: https://bookshop.org/books/predicting-the-unpredictable-the-tumultuous-science-of-earthquake-prediction-revised/9780691173306
In case New England's fuss and commotion over today's earthquake has West Coasters feeling all smug, @SeismoSue also has an earthquake trail guide for California quakes. More on her work here: https://www.seismosoc.org/news/at-work-susan-hough/
But wait -- no earthquakes in the heartland, right? mid-America just has to dodge tornados? Check out THE LOST HISTORY OF THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKES for 19th-century ruckus along the Mississippi River -- and dead-serious science of present-day quakes. https://bookshop.org/books/the-lost-history-of-the-new-madrid-earthquakes/9780226273754
Deborah Coen's EARTHQUAKE OBSERVERS traces the pre-history of the @USGS "DID YOU FEEL IT" site, showing how researchers built 19th-c earthquake science out of myriad observations by ordinary people & learned observers: https://bookshop.org/books/the-earthquake-observers-disaster-science-from-lisbon-to-richter-9780226212050/9780226212050
Joanna Dyl's SEISMIC CITY traces the environmental effects of the great 1906 San Francisco quake: https://bookshop.org/books/seismic-city-an-environmental-history-of-san-francisco-s-1906-earthquake/9780295746098
Again with the midwest US risk, seismologist Seth Stein lays out recent science and earthquake hazard: https://bookshop.org/books/disaster-deferred-a-new-view-of-earthquake-hazards-in-the-new-madrid-seismic-zone/9780231151382
Simon Winchester gives a gripping account of the 1906 San Francisco quake: https://bookshop.org/books/a-crack-in-the-edge-of-the-world-america-and-the-great-california-earthquake-of-1906/9780060572006
And as with so much of @SeismoSue's work, RICHTER'S SCALE lays out how California's earthquake history has shaped so much of modern seismology (and explains the origin of those M measurements!): https://bookshop.org/books/richter-s-scale-measure-of-an-earthquake-measure-of-a-man/9780691173283
