Quick Update on the Saudi Arabian Earthquakes

One brief note before I head out the door …

Fissures formed in western Saudi Arabia during the earthquake swarm near Harrat Lunayyir during May and June 2009. Image courtesy of Ahmed Al-Hussaini.

The earthquakes in the Harrat Lunayyir region of western Saudi Arabia seem to be like a character out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail: they’re just not dead yet. Two more earthquakes, these in the M3 range at 8-9 km depth, hit Thursday morning, further delaying the return of evacuees to the Al-Ais region. This bring the total earthquakes to over 150 since seismicity began a few weeks ago. Eruptions reader Albalawi found a daily update site from the Saudi Geological Survey on the earthquakes. The updates appear to only be in Arabic (unlike the main site that is also in English), but he did provide a link that works through Google Translate. The SGS latest report says that no new volcanic gases or radon have been detected, ground temperatures are unchanged and none of the fissures have expanded.

And with that, I’m off to Boston!