Monthly Archives: May 2015

Seismicity in Nepal

We have just produced a movie of seismicity (earthquake patterns in space and time) in the region of the Himalaya centered on Nepal, to demonstrate the context for the recent M7.8 earthquake on April 25, 2015, that had terrible consequences for many many people. This movie represents 42 years of seismicity in the Nepal region, with all earthquakes above M3.5 (from the ANSS catalog). The size of each dot represents the magnitude, while the color scales with depth; blue indicates shallow upper crust, increasing to purple, then red and then orange (the “Key” is here ). The orange earthquakes are > 50 km, and are mostly in the subducting plate. The lack of earthquakes to the west of the April 25th, 2015 earthquake and its aftershocks indicates a potentially elevated risk in that region. The sounds are generated from a library of tiny earthquake sounds (“granules”) that we created.