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Kentucky Seismic Network Records Great Sumatran Earthquake
The March 28 earthquake near northern Sumatra, with an estimated magnitude of 8.7 on the Richter Scale, was recorded on instruments in the Kentucky Seismic and Strong Motion Network, operated by the Kentucky Geological Survey and the UK Department of Geological Sciences. This graphic shows how eight of the instruments recorded the event. The seismic waves took about 20 minutes to go around the Earth and reach the Kentucky instruments.
Unlike the Dec. 26, 2004 great earthquake in the same region, this one did not cause damaging tsunamis. The December earthquake was also recorded by the Kentucky network.
(Information and graphics by Zhenming Wang and Baoping Shi, Geologic Hazards Section, Kentucky Geological Survey)
For more information on this earthquake, visit the USGS site at: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2005/usweax/
For information on earthquakes in Kentucky and the Central U. S., see this KGS site: https://www.uky.edu/KGS/geologichazards/