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The December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

Some twenty and a half minutes after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, seismic waves from the event were recorded on instruments in the KGS' Kentucky Seismic and Strong Motion Network.  Above is a recording of the event made at a network instrument in Lexington, KY(click the image to enlarge it).  Between 8:18 and 8:19 p.m. EST, the instrument began recording the waves (in red at the top of the recording).  Though the recording would seem to indicate that the shaking went on for many minutes, this instrument actually recorded a variety of types of earthquake waves which took complicated paths around the Earth's surface and through its core before reaching the instrument at different times. Below is a graphic showing how ten of the instruments in the Kentucky seismic network recorded the event.  (Information and graphics by Zhenming Wang and Baoping Shi, Geologic Hazards Section, Kentucky Geological Survey)

December 26, 2004, Magnitude 9.0 – Sumatra-Andaman Islands Earthquake recorded by the Kentucky Seismic and Strong Motion Network

 

 

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Last modified August 1, 2012 .