Earthquakes caused by subducting tectonic plates can be highly destructive events. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake caused immense damage to population centers in eastern Japan. Constant monitoring of faulted regions with seismographs and space geodesy measurements can indicate when land deformations are occurring in shallow or surficial systems, giving researchers a hand with hazard mitigation work. But for subduction zones, much of the deformation occurs deep within Earth, making it difficult to detect on the surface. - EOS

eos.org/articles/which-came-first-the-eruption-or-the-landslideOn 22 December 2018, an eruption rocked Indonesia. Anak Krakatau, a volcano that sits in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, let loose. The eruption was accompanied by a massive landslide that triggered a tsunami and inundated nearby coastlines. A rock concert was interrupted when a wave crashed through the tent and swept the band off the stage. All told, more than 400 people died, around 14,000 were injured, and 33,000 were displaced. - EOS

​Beginning February 12 of this year, a small swarm of earthquakes rattled the southern side of Theodore Roosevelt Lake. Although earthquakes are rare in southern Arizona, the area surrounding Roosevelt, AZ has experienced many historical earthquakes. Beginning in 2008, the Arizona Geological Survey began a statewide effort to monitor earthquakes using 8 broadband seismometers.  In 2017, 6 new stations were installed, including one near Roosevelt, Arizona, and two additional stations were added to the seismic network in 2018. With increasing station coverage, more of Arizona’s smaller earthquakes are being detected and better located. The latest swarm detected near Roosevelt Lake included 3 events (summary table below) with M 2.5 or greater and 10s of M1.0-1.5s that were too small to be located accurately. - AZ Geologic Survey

The way companies drill for oil and gas and dispose of wastewater can trigger earthquakes, at times in unexpected places.  In West Texas, earthquake rates are now 30 times higher than they were in 2013. Studies have also linked earthquakes to oil field operations in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Ohio.  California was thought to be an exception, a place where oil field operations and tectonic faults apparently coexisted without much problem. Now, new research shows that the state's natural earthquake activity may be hiding industry-induced quakes. - Phys.Org

Stabled animals seem to grow fidgety in the hours before an earthquake, whereas their free-range counterparts show no discernible difference in behavior. - EOS