January 2018

In which part of the world were there more than 70 M4.5+ earthquakes in December?

As in previous months, earthquake data with a magnitude greater than M4.5 on the Richter scale, for the previous month was downloaded.
Up-to-date earthquake data is available from the USGS site (United States Geological Survey). From this data, we create two visualizations/maps.

The following table shows earthquakes with a magnitude greater than M4.5:

From the December data, two visualizations/maps were created.
The FIRST is an interactive, but static, map showing some 396 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 4.5 on the Richter scale.

Zooming in to Oceania shows more than 70 M4.5+ earthquakes in the area in December

The SECOND map is also an interactive map, but this time animated, again showing earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 4.5 on the Richter scale.
The timeline at the bottom of this map animates, showing the earthquakes in a time sequence as they happen. You can pause this timeline, and then move the time cursor manually. As a result you can see earthquakes occurring by day.

Zooming in to Oceania as in the screenshot below, it is interesting to see the animated earthquake activity over time. Compare this to the week 14th – 21st November, east of New Caledonia, especially on the day when there are 34 earthquakes!