Alan Kafka

@alankafka.bsky.social

Geophysics, Earthquake Science, and Community Science for the Greater Good bit.ly/A_Kafka_Website Follow my latest adventures at alankafka.substack.com

This is the last of my currently scheduled lectures: Elkins Public Library, Canterbury, NH - Sept 24, 2026 at 6 PM. But let me know if you have any suggestions for other venues where people might want to hear me tell my story about the mystery of earthquakes in the Eastern US

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Earthquake in Alaska today, recorded by new Raspberry Shake citizen seismograph we just installed in Maine (S615F). Hoping to expand RS network in northern New England.

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In addition to today's large earthquake in Japan (6.8, yellow trace at 08:00), I see at least 2 other earthquakes here! China-5.8 (Yellow, 04:00) Mexico-5.9 (Blue, 05:00)

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Yes, there really is a "Sandwich Plate" 🙂 Magnitude 6.4 earthquake - South Sandwich Islands (USGS "Green alert" for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.)

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Yes, if an Atlantic Ocean earthquake is big enough, it can trigger a significant East Coast tsunami. This M4.2 earthquake (6/30/26) was too small to be of concern for tsunami hazards, but it was near a 1929 M7.2 earthquake south of Newfoundland that triggered a significant tsunami.

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The powerful, destructive earthquake in Venezuela was well-recorded across New England with Raspberry Shake low-cost citizen seismographs. The situation remains very bad there 😢 😢 😢

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Overwhelming for me to think about this tragic earthquake within the context of what sense I could make of earthquakes in this region back in 1980. This graphic shows results of my PhD thesis within the framework of the (very new at the time) theory of plate tectonics.

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Post The 2026 World Cup win over Australia was well recorded at the Seattle Stadium. Why then don't we have similar seismic recordings (like the one here for the BC-BU "Battle of Comm Ave") for the World Cup events at Boston Stadium in Foxboro, MA? Explanation in 1st comment.

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Meteorites and earthquakes and storms, oh my! The Earth has its own agenda. Humans learn to work around it... Numbers show the order in which our seismic stations recorded the meteor. NASA location is where NASA says the meteorite landed.

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