Was the 2010 Haiti Earthquake triggered by deforestation and the 2008 hurricanes?
Major earthquakes occur when the stress on rocks between two tectonic plates reaches a critical breaking point, allowing the earth to move along the connecting fault. While the slow creep of the tectonic plates makes earthquakes inevitable along major faults, the timing and exact location of the quake epicenter can be influenced by outside forces pushing down on Earth's crust. For example, the sloshing of water into the Eastern Pacific during El Niño events has been linked to magnitude 4, 5, and 6 earthquakes on the seafloor below, due to the extra weight of water caused by local sea level rise. Sea level rise due to rapid melting of Earth's ice sheets could also potentially trigger earthquakes, though it is unknown at what melting rate such an effect might become significant.
Figure 1. Google Earth image of Haiti taken November 8, 2010, showing the capital of Port-Au-Prince and the mountainous region to its west where the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake was. Note the brown color of the mountains, where all the vegetation has been stripped off, leaving bare slopes subject to extreme erosion. Heavy rains in recent years have washed huge amounts of sediment into the Leogane Delta to the north.
Figure 2. Zoom-in view of the Leogane Delta region of Figure 1, showing the large expansion in the Delta's area between 2002 and 2010. High amounts of sediments have been eroded from Haiti's deforested mountains and deposited in the Delta. Recent expansion of the river channel due to runoff from Hurricane Tomas' rains is apparent in the 2010 image. Image credit: Google Earth, Digital Globe, GeoEye.
At last week's American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting last week in San Francisco, Shimon Wdowinsky of the University of Miami proposed a different method whereby unusual strains on the crust might trigger an earthquake. In a talk titled, Triggering of the 2010 Haiti earthquake by hurricanes and possibly deforestation , Wdowinsky studied the stresses on Earth's crust over the epicenter of the mighty January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake that killed over 200,000 people. This quake was centered in a mountainous area of southwest Haiti that has undergone severe deforestation—over 98% of the trees have been felled on the mountain in recent decades, allowing extreme erosion to occur during Haiti's frequent heavy rainfall events. Since 1975, the erosion rate in these mountains has been 6 mm/year, compared to the typical erosion rate of less than 1 mm/yr in forested tropical mountains. Satellite imagery (Figure 2) reveals that the eroded material has built up significantly in the Leogane Delta to the north of the earthquake's epicenter. In the 2008 hurricane season, four storms--Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike--dumped heavy rains on the impoverished nation. The bare, rugged hillsides let flood waters rampage into large areas of the country, killing over 1,000, destroying 22,702 homes, and damaging another 84,625. About 800,000 people were affected--8% of Haiti's total population. The flood wiped out 70% of Haiti's crops, resulting in dozens of deaths of children due to malnutrition in the months following the storms. Damage was estimated at over $1 billion, the costliest natural disaster in Haitian history. The damage amounted to over 5% of the country's $17 billion GDP, a staggering blow for a nation so poor. Tragically, the hurricanes of 2008 may have set up Haiti for an ever larger disaster. Wdowinsky computed that the amount of mass eroded away from the mountains over the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake was sufficient to cause crustal strains capable of causing a vertically-oriented slippage along a previously unknown fault. This type of motion is quite unusual in this region, as most quakes in Haiti tend to be of the strike-slip variety, where the tectonic plates slide horizontally past each other. The fact that the 2010 Haiti quake occurred along a vertically moving fault lends support to the idea that the slippage was triggered due to mass stripped off the mountains by erosion over the epicenter, combined with the extra weight of the extra sediment deposited in the Leogane Delta clamping down on the northern portion of the fault. Wdowinsky gave two other examples in Taiwan where earthquakes followed several months after the passage of tropical cyclones that dumped heavy rains over mountainous regions. His theory of tropical cyclone-triggered quakes deserves consideration, and provides another excellent reason to curb excessive deforestation!
Figure 3. Two of 2008's four tropical cyclones that ravaged Haiti: Tropical Storm Hanna (right) and Hurricane Gustav (left). Image taken at 10:40 am EDT September 1, 2008. Image credit: NASA/GSFC.
Christmas in Haiti
Portlight.org will brighten the lives of hundreds of kids in Haiti this week, thanks to their successful Christmas in Haiti fundraiser. Portlight raised $1800 to buy toys, candies, and other assorted goodies. The shipment left Charleston last week, and will arrive in time for Christmas. Thanks to everyone who helped support this worthy effort!
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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click pic to make big
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone.
And it seems like just yesterday that someone mentioned "poisoning the well".
If you can't refute the evidence, trash the messenger...
As has been proven numerous times, it's not in the least an exaggeration of man's potential for us to say we are quite capable of causing widespread and irreparable harm to the planet. Denying we have the ability to do so? Now that's the illusion. Yes, it's true that a cometary impact or CME or some other catastrophe beyond our control could, in effect, hit Earth's reset button before we have the chance to do it ourselves. But it's awfully cynical--not to mention taking a huge and twisted leap of nihilistic logic--to say that since Mother Nature may elect to buck us all off the horse somewhere down the road, we shouldn't even bother doing the things we need to to hold on now. And I can imagine our descendants won't be happy to know that some of their ancestors felt that way.
What is interesting is that if one is old enough, they can possibly remember a time not long ago at all when the fear program that was running was different.
In that earlier era, we were all programmed to believe that the source of our human-caused destruction was going to be a full-scale nuclear war. But oddly, even though there still remain some 50,000 or more nuclear warheads on this planet, no one much talks about that anymore and even fewer fear it. This is because that old fear program has been deleted and is now replaced with a new one.
Today, the new fear program that has been installed and is running involves the various dreaded scenarios which will supposedly unfold due to climate change.
One can only wonder at what the fear program will be for the next generation. Whatever it is, once it is installed and the present one involving climatic devastation has been deleted, surprisingly few will remember what all of the fears about climate change were all about.
Very true what you say and thanks for mentioning it.
But the problem here seems to be that too many on this blog enjoy that battle of the egos that you mentioned. Of course it will go nowhere and no one will have their mind changed but what the hey? I guess it must be invigorating for a lot of the participants.
Ah, I see you again failed to respond to the question: what's causing the planet's "natural warming trend" to which you referred? And now a follow-up: what will cause the coming ice age you predict?
You misread my point.
I did not say that humankind is incapable of destroying itself. I also did not say that there is no point in trying to repair or retract the potential causes of this possible destruction.
All I was trying to do was to remind others of the bigger picture. If you notice, buried in the middle of that commentary was a mention of the fact that no matter what is accomplished here or not accomplished by us, we are all going to have our reset buttons pressed at some point. And this will happen regardless whether it be the way it usually is, as individuals, or en masse.
CO2 ??
Twist and turn, tap the AGW dance all you want.
I am not the one who is proposing a new view...you are.
I do not have any homework to do because you and your AGW lemming friends have yet to give us free and unfettered access to the information and methodology that would allow us to decide one way or the other.
It is YOUR responsibility to prove your position is the correct one. The fact that I do not accept your assertions is your problem, not mine. I owe you not one bit of anything.
You have yet to address the problems with the fact that there is no protocol for making sure the information true and correct.
You do not address the fact that all of the information and the computer assumptions, is not freely available for all to see for themselves. Not to mention the scientists themselves who falsify the data or are duped into believing it to be true.
Apparently, the information is not freely available because it is totally and completely fraudulent, why else hide it.
A better image available at Wikipedia showcases a much more clearer view of the moon as it passed through the center umbra (image from Orlando, Florida).
Change that to billionaire and sheeple investors worldwide and you would be much closer to the truth.
2010 December 21 17:19:41 UTC
What caused th efirst ice ages? What caused the dinosaurs to go extinct..
We look at evidence and make educated GUESSES..
WE ARE MAKING THE PLANET WARMER TO SOME DEGREE THROUGH URBAN HEATING..
We are most likely changing the weather patterns a bit in the densely populated areas
but every time I hear about CGW I want to say exactly what the post you responded to says..
pat got it
WEPA42 PHEB 211731
TIBPAC
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1731Z 21 DEC 2010
THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
... TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ...
THIS BULLETIN IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.
THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY
NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND
ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
REPORTED BY THE JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY.
ORIGIN TIME - 1720Z 21 DEC 2010
COORDINATES - 27.5 NORTH 143.4 EAST
DEPTH - 10 KM
LOCATION - BONIN ISLANDS JAPAN REGION
MAGNITUDE - 7.4
EVALUATION
NO DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON
HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.
HOWEVER - EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE SOMETIMES GENERATE LOCAL
TSUNAMIS THAT CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS LOCATED WITHIN
A HUNDRED KILOMETERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES
IN THE REGION OF THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS
POSSIBILITY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION.
THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.
THE JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY MAY ALSO ISSUE TSUNAMI MESSAGES
FOR THIS EVENT TO COUNTRIES IN THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC AND SOUTH
CHINA SEA REGION. IN CASE OF CONFLICTING INFORMATION... THE
MORE CONSERVATIVE INFORMATION SHOULD BE USED FOR SAFETY.
THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE PRODUCTS
FOR ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...WASHINGTON...OREGON...CALIFORNIA.
...SP...
I love the classic agw argument that pro GW folk are in it for money. Two things are terribly wrong with that claim. One, they never provide evidence. Ever. And two, if anything, the money is in agw. Pro GW folk are pushing towards what would end the oil industry--the richest of all industries.
Thirdly, The debate isn't't if we are warming, its what is causing the warming. Now, do you believe in the greenhouse gas theory? Do you recognize that humans are adding greenhouse gases to the air?
If you said no to either of the above questions, you're wrong. If you said yes to the questions then you would recognize humans play a role in the current warming period. To what extent we will never know.
plus 100
From: NOAA/NWS/West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center
Subject: Tsunami Information Statement #1 issued 12/21/2010 at 9:32AM PST
A strong earthquake has occurred, but a tsunami IS NOT expected along the California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, or Alaska coast. NO tsunami warning, watch or advisory is in effect for these areas.
Based on the earthquake magnitude, location and historic tsunami records, a damaging tsunami IS NOT expected along the California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska coasts. At coastal locations which have experienced strong ground shaking, local tsunamis are possible due to underwater landslides.
At 9:20 AM Pacific Standard Time on December 21, an earthquake with preliminary magnitude 7.4 occurred in the Bonin Islands, Japan region . (Refer to the United States Geological Survey for official earthquake parameters.)
Pacific coastal regions outside California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska should refer to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center messages for information on the event.
This will be the only statement issued for this event by the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center unless conditions warrant. See the WCATWC web site for basic tsunami information, safety rules, and a tsunami travel time map and table. (NOTE: Travel time maps and tables indicate forecasted times only, not that a wave was generated.)
I saw that. lol
i am not an AGW proponent. I am of mixed beliefs, and have stayed any convictions. I hedge my bets by supporting actions that would combat AGW should it be true, and I am of sound an open mind to digest all factors that may prove true contrary to AGW beliefs. I am on the lookout for scientific information. I don't think you know what that actually means.
That is why on a previous post some days back, I stated that I fall somewhere between Atmoaggie's scientific-based skepticism, and Neapolitan's scientific-based concerns. I find that both of these bloggers epitomize effective discourse over the MASSIVE amounts of data available.
But then there's you, denying a warming climate, accusing all climate scientists of lying to get money, and accusing people here of being mindless sheep. Never have you backed up your claims with supporting evidence. Still you refuse to answer the call to prove that climate scientists are corrupt money grubbers.
You just don't get that I am coming at you without being an AGW proponent. Every attempt to counter my posts in such a light is another misstep by you. So answer the call for proof, once and for all, the corruption you see in the climate research community.
Now i will go back to mirroring your method of finger pointed comments... at least until you support your claim about the money-based motivations of fraudulent climate research. That is the only item I have, and will continue to address with you. If we can put that to rest, maybe, just maybe, we can enter a discussion about the results of the data and accompanying research.
It's universally accepted that the impact of a large bolide 65 million years ago both created the Chixculub crater and triggered the extinction of dinosaurs and much other life.
To state that "urban heating" has changed weather patterns a bit in populated areas may be true, but that's only a small part of the whole story. The increased amounts of CO2 we've been pumping into the atmosphere for decades now is altering the climate globally, most evident in rapid warming.
.."I wanna Thank You"..
Just lurking a bit and thought it was funny.
Uptown NOLA
Captureview Binocular Cam
...earlier,halfway there.
Merry...Christmas...to...you...too...
Yes it did. Everything is going well in school so far. Can't wait to start getting into the actual Major material in the fall.
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