Dramatic Direct Visuals of the December 2004 Bay of Bengal Epicenter Earthquake Rupture Zone

The British Royal Navy oceanographic survey ship “HMS Scott” was tasked in January 2005 (with the agreement of the Indonesian Government) to immediately survey the seabed at the epicenter of the December 26, 2004 earthquake near Aceh, Sumatra. The purpose of the survey was to gather scientific data before sediment and erosion mask the changes to the seabed’s structure. Eventually the data collected by HMS Scott will be used to develop an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System, according to a press release from the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office.*

The water depths in the area of the Sumatra earthquake’s epicenter reach 5000 meters (approximately 15,000 feet or 3 miles), which are well within the HMS Scott’s capability to penetrate. The ship is fitted with a modern multi-beam sonar suite which permits mapping of the ocean floor worldwide. HMS Scott was constructed by Appledore Shipbuilders Ltd. in North Devon and launched by Mrs. Portillo on 13 October 1996.**

HMS Scott, British Royal Navy
Source: United Kingdom Hydrographic Office: “What’s New” “First Images of HMS Scott’s Survey Arrive at UKHO” available at http://www.ukho.gov.uk/whats_new.html.

The following visuals provided to the international press and media on February 9, 2005 depict the ocean floor in the epicenter of the December 2004 earthquake in the Bay of Bengal near Aceh, Sumatra (for further information on the source of these visuals, please read footnote*** below).

Visual B (above) depicts the location of the Sumatran fault, where the Indian oceanic plate is subducting beneath (moving under) the Eurasian/Burma continental plate. The rate of subduction is .5 to .6 centimeters per year, according to the Power Point slide.

Visual C (above) depicts the survey approach by the HMS Scott. The red dot in the lower left hand corner is the point of maximum movement. The yellow dot in the lower right hand corner is the position of epicenter of the December 2004 earthquake. The green line is the area for which baseline hydrographic data has previously been obtained. The purple line is the primary survey area by the HMS Scott. The blue line is the secondary survey area. You can note that both the yellow and red dots are within the ship’s primary survey area.

Visual D (above) depicts the “lines run” during survey with overlay of data collected. The blue shaded area is oceanic plate and the green shaded area is continental plate. The seam (my term) between them is the subduction zone, where, theoretically, the oceanic plate is diving down under the continental plate. A typical depth for the green shaded area is 1000 meters (3,000 feet) and the blue area, 4,500 meters (13,500 feet or approximately 2.7 miles).

Visual E (above) depicts a closer-up image of the actual meeting of the oceanic plate (purple) with the continental plate near the epicenter of the December 2004 Sumatra earthquake.

Visual F (above) is a theoretical cross-section diagram of the process of tectonic plates interacting with one another at the Sumatra fault line.

Visual G (above) provides a gauge of distance. Note in the upper left hand corner “5 km” which equals approximately 3 miles. Also note the first alluding to “slumped material” in the lower right hand corner.

Visual H (above) dramatically shows “slumping” and the location of the epicenter (yellow dot in lower right hand corner).

Visuals I through K (above) are more depictions of the earthquake area.

Editor’s Note: How would the late Cornell University astrophysicist Thomas Gold, author of “The Deep, Hot Earth” (see http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_182.html and http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_185.html) interpret the “slumping” depicted in the visuals above? He would be ecstatic, I believe. He would say something like: “Here is evidence of pressurized hydrocarbons exploding through the overlying rock, first ballooning it up and then causing it to collapse into slumps once the gases were released into the water.” Furthermore, he would probably say that the huge amount of (methane?) outgassing would be sufficient to induce the tsunami that followed the Sumatran earthquake of December 26, 2005.

* Press Release Hydrographic Support by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office in the Tsunami Affected Region, February 9, 2005. Available at: http://www.ukho.gov.uk/attachments/press_releases/Tsunami.pdf.

** “Ocean Survey Vessel HMS Scott” at: http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/466.html.

***All visuals have been taken from a Power Point presentation by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office given during an International Press & Media Briefing on Wednesday 9 February 2005 and posted online at: United Kingdom Hydrographic Office: “What’s New” “First Images of HMS Scott’s Survey Arrive at UKHO” at http://www.ukho.gov.uk/whats_new.html. To view the entire Power Point presentation, click where directed. Be advised that the Power Point file is 36.3 megabytes. There are more visuals in the Power Point than are reproduced in this Biot.