Natural Disasters News

April 30, 2025

Top Headlines

Anatomy of a 'Zombie' Volcano: Investigating the Cause of Unrest Inside Uturuncu

Apr. 28, 2025 — Scientists have collaborated to analyze the inner workings of Bolivia's 'zombie' volcano, Uturuncu. By combining seismology, physics models and analysis of rock composition, researchers identify the ...

Noto Quake 3D Model Adds Dimension to Understand Earthquake Dynamics

Apr. 28, 2025 — On Jan. 1, 2024, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in Japan, resulting in extensive damage in the region caused by uplift, when the land rises due to shifting tectonic plates. The observed uplift, however, varied significantly, ...

Climate Change Increases the Risk of Simultaneous Wildfires

Apr. 28, 2025 — Climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires in many regions of the world. This is due partly to specific weather conditions -- known as fire weather -- that facilitate the spread of wildfires. Researchers have found that fire weather seasons ...

Strong Shaking at Fault Stepover Has Rocks--Briefly--Defying Gravity

Apr. 23, 2025 — When a seismologist visited the site of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes two days after the event, he noticed something strange. Pebble- to boulder-sized rocks clearly had been moved by the earthquakes -- but there were no signs of dragging or ...

Latest Headlines

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Could Seismic Signals from Earthquakes Mask the Signals of an Underground Explosion?

Apr. 24, 2025 — Could the seismic signal of an underground nuclear test explosion be 'hidden' by the signal generated by a natural ...

Lake Deposits Reveal Directional Shaking During Devastating 1976 Guatemala Earthquake

Apr. 18, 2025 — Sediment cores drawn from four lakes in Guatemala record the distinct direction that ground shaking traveled during a 1976 magnitude 7.5 earthquake ...

Seismology: How Wide Are Faults?

Apr. 18, 2025 — Researchers posed a seemingly simple question: how wide are ...

Apr. 16, 2025 — A new study suggests that climate trauma -- such as experiencing a devastating wildfire -- can have lasting effects on cognitive ...

Inside Yellowstone's Fiery Heart: Researchers Map Volatile-Rich Cap, Offering Clues to Future Volcanic Activity

Apr. 16, 2025 — Beneath the steaming geysers and bubbling mud pots of Yellowstone National Park lies one of the world's most closely watched volcanic systems. Now a ...

Seismologists Share Early Analyses of Myanmar Earthquake

Apr. 15, 2025 — The 28 March magnitude 7.7 Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar) earthquake caused widespread and severe damage in Myanmar and neighboring countries such as Thailand, with more than 5,000 casualties now ...

Emotions and Levels of Threat Affect Communities' Resilience During Extreme Events

Apr. 14, 2025 — Researchers use mathematical modeling to probe whether cohesive communities are more resilient to extreme events, finding that emotional intensity ...

Hundred-Year Storm Tides Will Occur Every Few Decades in Bangladesh, Scientists Report

Apr. 11, 2025 — For the highly populated coastal country of Bangladesh, once-in-a-century storm tides could strike every 10 years -- or more often -- by the end of ...

Crustal Brines at an Oceanic Transform Fault

Apr. 11, 2025 — A team presents new details of an oceanic transform fault at the Gofar fault in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The work reveals unexpected brine deposits beneath the seafloor near the fault, which could ...

Wildfire Recovery: What Victims Say They Need Most

Apr. 9, 2025 — Wildfire victims have a range of needs, including mental health support and information about wildfire smoke, according to a new ...

Sink or Swim: The Fate of Sinking Tectonic Plates Depends on Their Ancient Tectonic Histories

Apr. 9, 2025 — New findings provide a greater understanding of plate subduction, or how tectonic plates slide beneath one another. This recycling of surface materials and volatile elements deep into the ...

Building a Safer Future: Strengthen Haiti's Earthquake Resilience

Mar. 18, 2025 — Over the past two decades, Haiti has endured the devastation of two catastrophic earthquakes -- first in 2010 and again in 2021. Each disaster left behind widespread destruction: buildings reduced to ...

Smoke from Wildland-Urban Interface Fires More Deadly Than Remote Wildfires

Mar. 14, 2025 — New research quantifies the health risks of wildland-urban interface fires, showing fire emissions in populated areas are three times more likely to lead to annual premature deaths than emissions ...

As Next Hurricane Season Nears, Study Explores Impacts of 2024's Storms

Mar. 13, 2025 — When major storms hit Houston last spring and summer, losing power was a nightmare for residents, but for many, the financial fallout was just as devastating. A new report finds that more than half ...

Researchers Forecast Shaking Damage from Crustal Earthquake Scenarios in Mexico City

Mar. 12, 2025 — Seismologists describe potential damage forecasts from ground shaking scenarios for moderate earthquakes in three regions of the Mexico City ...

Earth's Orbital Rhythms Link Timing of Giant Eruptions and Climate Change

Mar. 7, 2025 — An international team of scientists has synchronized key climate records from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to unravel the sequence of events during the last million years before the extinction of ...

Seismic Study of Singapore Could Guide Urban Construction and Renewable Energy Development

Mar. 5, 2025 — A new seismic study of Singapore could guide urban growth and renewable energy development in the coastal city nation, where 5.6 million residents live within an area of 734 square ...

Researchers Quantify the Way Rivers Bend, Opening Up the Possibility for Identifying Origins of Channels on Other Planets

Mar. 5, 2025 — Whether it's rivers cutting through earth, lava melting through rock, or water slicing through ice, channels all twist and bend in a seemingly similar back-and-forth manner. But a new study has ...

Heat from the Sun Affects Seismic Activity on Earth

Mar. 4, 2025 — Researchers explore the likelihood that Earth's climate, as affected by solar heat, plays a role in seismic activity. Using mathematical and computational methods, they analyzed earthquake data ...

Studying the Evolutionary History of Continent-Sized Regions in the Deep Mantle

Feb. 28, 2025 — Scientists have revealed that two continent-size regions in Earth's deep mantle have distinctive histories and resulting chemical composition, in contrast to the common assumption they are the ...

School of Rock: Properties of Rocks in Fault Zones Contribute to Earthquake Generation

Feb. 26, 2025 — A study looking at a small region in Japan has shown that the properties of fault zone rocks really matter for the generation of ...

From Waste to Wonder: Revolutionary Green Grout for Sustainable Construction Practices

Feb. 25, 2025 — Grouting is a widely used construction technique that involves injecting stabilizing materials into soil to ensure structural stability, which is especially beneficial in earthquake-prone regions. ...

Housing Damage Resulting from Great East Japan Earthquake and All-Cause Mortality

Feb. 20, 2025 — Scientists know that natural disasters have negative health effects on survivors, but long-term observations are lacking. To help fill this gap, a research team has investigated the connection ...

Bio-Hybrid Drone Uses Silkworm Moth Antennae to Navigate Using Smell

Feb. 19, 2025 — Conventional drones use visual sensors for navigation. However, environmental conditions like dampness, low light, and dust can hinder their effectiveness, limiting their use in disaster-stricken ...

Scientists Use Distant Sensor to Monitor American Samoa Earthquake Swarm

Feb. 14, 2025 — In late July to October 2022, residents of the Manu'a Islands in American Samoa felt the earth shake several times a day, raising concerns of an imminent volcanic eruption or ...

Models Show Intensifying Wildfires in a Warming World Due to Changes in Vegetation and Humidity; Only a Minor Role for Lightning

Feb. 12, 2025 — Climate scientists present a realistic supercomputer simulation that resolves the complex interactions between fire, vegetation, smoke and the atmosphere. The authors find that increasing greenhouse ...

Fewer Forest Fires Burn in North America Today Than in the Past--and That's a Bad Thing

Feb. 11, 2025 — Research analyzed tree rings and fire scars to compare modern fires to those in the ...

Satellite Data Identifies Warning Signs Ahead of 2018 Volcanic Eruption, Tsunami

Feb. 11, 2025 — In 2018, the side of the Anak Krakatau volcano collapsed in a powerful eruption and produced a tsunami that killed hundreds and injured thousands on nearby Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. A new ...

Earth's Inner Core Is Undergoing a Transformation

Feb. 10, 2025 — Earth's inner core is undergoing structural transformation. Located 3,000 miles below the Earth's surface, the inner core is anchored by gravity within the molten liquid outer core. Until ...

Generating International Testing Standards for Large Outdoor Fires

Feb. 10, 2025 — The recent LA fires drove home how dangerous wildfires can be when they encroach on urban areas. So-called 'wildland-urban interface' fires are on the rise. However, building codes and ...