Recent Earthquakes in SA

[Wayno]

Here's a list of recent South Australian earthquakes. Lots of little vibrations - did the earth move for you too?

The biggest are highlighted in red.

Date Time (UTC) Latitude Longitude Place Magnitude
8 May 2008 10:51 -33.385° 138.409° 44km SE of Port Pirie 2.2
6 May 2008 05:51 -31.072° 139.164° 205km NE of Port Augusta 2.4
30 April 2008 21:11 -30.300° 141.567° 247km N of Menindee 3.9
8 April 2008 12:33 -31.393° 138.484° 139km NE of Port Augusta 2.9
7 April 2008 04:26 -32.647° 138.232° 46km E of Port Augusta 2.3
5 April 2008 20:14 -34.835° 139.102° 36km NW of Murray Bridge 1.4
5 April 2008 19:00 -37.836° 139.994° 40km SW of Millicent 2.6
3 April 2008 21:18 -37.580° 139.546° 71km W of Millicent 2.5
3 April 2008 11:18 -32.534° 138.261° 46km E of Port Augusta 2.7
29 March 2008 16:59 -32.063° 139.068° 63kkm E of Hawker 2.0
26 March 2008 09:50 -33.297° 138.367° 36km E of Port Pirie 1.2
23 March 2008 21:04 -34.031° 138.622° 22km S of Clare 1.3
23 March 2008 20:00 -33.468° 138.248° 38 km SE of Port Pirie 3.3
23 March 2008 02:56 -31.518° 138.590° 44km N of Hawker 1.5
22 March 2008 06:12 -32.804° 138.287° 51km NE of Port Pirie 2.0
17 March 2008 06:56 -25.698° 137.521° Simpson Desert 3.1
16 March 2008 19:04 -31.236° 138.770° 38 km E of Parachilna 1.7
16 March 2008 18:40 -37.587° 139.773° 24km SW of Beachport 1.7
14 March 2008 06:32 -34.603° 139.097° 58 km NE of Adelaide 1.1
11 March 2008 12:47 -38.839° 140.356° 118km S of Mt Gambier 1.5

Explanations and Disclaimer
Final calculations of epicentres are usually completed about 40 to 60 days behind true time. Any more recent events listed are preliminary and both the location and magnitude are likely to change. Some events outside SA may be listed. These are events which can be seen, and possibly located with the SA seismograph network. These epicentres and magnitudes are likely to be much less accurate, and are almost certain to change when all data are included. Accuracy of epicentres is highly variable depending on which stations are used, and on the size of the earthquake.

Other networks, particularly Geoscience Australia and Environmental Systems and Services often supply data for the calculations of these epicentres and magnitudes.

The Date and Time are both UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) which is 9:30 behind SA time or 10:30 behind in daylight saving time. This means early morning (SA time) earthquakes will be listed as the day before.

Depth is not listed. It is usually the most difficult parameter to calculate, and is often inaccurate, particularly in preliminary solutions.

Magnitude is usually a Richter magnitude, calculated from the peak amplitude of Seismic (S) waves, but may occasionally be different.

The Place name is only a rough guide for ease of use, and some names may not be recognised by many users. Users may prefer to copy the latitude and longitude to a map program for a better description.

Ref: http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/minerals/earth ... akes_in_sa

[Wayno]

and here's the historical list of big earthquakes in SA. More details and pikkies at the source here ==> http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/minerals/earth ... _australia

BeachPort Magnitude 6.5 10th May, 1897
This is the largest earthquake to have occurred in South Australia since 1837. It caused massive damage in the South East at Kingston, Robe and Beachport, and caused minor damage even in Adelaide. It was felt as far away as Port Augusta and Melbourne. Near the epicentre there were several cases of liquefaction, some spectacular. It is thought that the epicentre was offshore. No tsunami was reported, but aftershocks continued for months.

Warooka Magnitude 6.0 19th September, 1902
This earthquake caused severe damage on Yorke Peninsula particularly at Warooka, but also at Yankalilla and other nearby places. There was widespread, but not great damage around Adelaide. It was originally thought that the epicentre was at Warooka, but more recent work suggests that it was in St Vincent Gulf. There was no tsunami or liquefaction reported, but this event did cause at least two deaths, the first known deaths from an earthquake in Australia. There were a number of aftershocks.

Adelaide Magnitude 5.5 1st March, 1954
This is the most infamous earthquake in South Australia. Occurring in the early hours of the morning, it woke most people across the metropolitan area. A few buildings in the Darlington area were demolished. Widespread cracking was reported, however it is thought that many cases were pre-existing cracking from soil problems. The insurance payout was about 3 million pounds. There were many reports of lights in the sky before the event. No surface rupture was found. It is thought that the earthquake happened on the Eden-Burnside fault at a fairly shallow depth. There was only one tiny aftershock.

Marryat Creek Magnitude 6.0 30th March, 1986
This earthquake occurred in the far north of the state, just south of the Northern Territory border. It is the only earthquake in South Australia since 1837 where we can match a surface rupture with an earthquake report. The rupture was a boomerang shape, pointing NE, and about 14kms long. The maximum movement was about 0.8m in the E-W direction and 0.6m in the vertical direction.

[AG]

Adelaide Magnitude 5.5 1st March, 1954
This is the most infamous earthquake in South Australia. Occurring in the early hours of the morning, it woke most people across the metropolitan area. A few buildings in the Darlington area were demolished. Widespread cracking was reported, however it is thought that many cases were pre-existing cracking from soil problems. The insurance payout was about 3 million pounds. There were many reports of lights in the sky before the event. No surface rupture was found. It is thought that the earthquake happened on the Eden-Burnside fault at a fairly shallow depth. There was only one tiny aftershock.

What's this got to do with the price of eggs? Suspecting meteors? lol. The earthquake was the one time when the clocks on the GPO stopped working IIRC.

[Wayno]

Adelaide Magnitude 5.5 1st March, 1954
This is the most infamous earthquake in South Australia. Occurring in the early hours of the morning, it woke most people across the metropolitan area. A few buildings in the Darlington area were demolished. Widespread cracking was reported, however it is thought that many cases were pre-existing cracking from soil problems. The insurance payout was about 3 million pounds. There were many reports of lights in the sky before the event. No surface rupture was found. It is thought that the earthquake happened on the Eden-Burnside fault at a fairly shallow depth. There was only one tiny aftershock.

What's this got to do with the price of eggs? Suspecting meteors? lol. The earthquake was the one time when the clocks on the GPO stopped working IIRC.

aurora-style lights in the sky pre/mid earthquake are apparently quite a common phenomenon. Read more ==> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_light. Watch the youtube videos from immediately prior to the recent sichuan china earthquake

[Bulldozer]

Earthquakes are quite common out Callington way and throughout the Flinders Ranges. If you visit Arkaroola, be sure to check out the seismograph in reception! When I was there last year (or was it the year before?) they had a printout of an earthquake that had happened a week before we arrived.

[Omicron]

I dropped a full tub of margarine the other day. That made a fair old thump.

[crawf]

Earthquakes are quite common out Callington way and throughout the Flinders Ranges. If you visit Arkaroola, be sure to check out the seismograph in reception! When I was there last year (or was it the year before?) they had a printout of an earthquake that had happened a week before we arrived.

Callington is the hills

[Wayno]

I dropped a full tub of margarine the other day. That made a fair old thump.

[Shuz]

Since when did we have earthquakes?...

[monotonehell]

Since when did we have earthquakes?...

Since forever... Adelaide has the highest earthquake risk of any capital city in Australia because it sits on on stress line.

Google "Eden Burnside Fault Zone" if you want to know more.

[Norman]

This may be interesting to you lot:

http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/ ... quakes.pdf

[AG]

To put it in perspective, the Adelaide region sits near an intraplate fault line called the Eden-Burnside fault line which roughly follows the outline of the foothills to the east of the city. Most major earthquakes are caused by slipping at the major interplate fault lines such as the one that struck Sichuan province in western China, although a few major earthquakes have been caused by intraplate fault lines. The risk of extensive damage is still nowhere near as great on intraplate fault lines, as they generally create earthquakes less frequently and of far smaller magnitude. Some recently constructed buildings in Adelaide have been designed to withstand earthquakes measuring between 5-6 on the Richter scale.

[Bulldozer]

Since when did we have earthquakes?...

I'm not a geologist, but I'd say at least since the Adelaide Geosyncline started being folded up into the Flinders and Mt Lofty Ranges.

(It's estimated that parts of the southern Flinders Ranges used to be as much as 6km high. They're not anymore, and their erosion is where all the plains come from and why a lot of ore bodies in SA are covered by so much overburden.)

[Wayno]

Since when did we have earthquakes?...

I'm not a geologist, but I'd say at least since the Adelaide Geosyncline started being folded up into the Flinders and Mt Lofty Ranges.

(It's estimated that parts of the southern Flinders Ranges used to be as much as 6km high. They're not anymore, and their erosion is where all the plains come from and why a lot of ore bodies in SA are covered by so much overburden.)

6km high! wow, thanks for the geology lesson - very interesting indeed!

[Bulldozer]

6km high! wow, thanks for the geology lesson - very interesting indeed!

A lot of ore bodies in outback SA are found within "palaeochannels", which are ancient riverbeds that have since been covered by tens or hundreds of metres of sediment.

The Beverley Uranium mine near Lake Frome is leaching a deposit that Sir Douglas Mawson predicted would be there from the erosion of the ranges around Arkaroola where small amounts of it were found and worked during and after World War II.