Tōhoku earthquake - 2011

3D Model

The Tōhoku earthquake (9.1 magnitude) hit Japan on March 11, 2011 for a duration of 5 minutes, and was followed by a tsunami which claimed the life of close to 16.000 people.

The seismic events shown took place on that same day, between 01h41 and 23h59 (GMT). At 0.5X animation speed, 1 second of animation = 1 hour in real time.

The main earthquake happened at 05h46 (1:80 mark in the animation), and slowing down the animation speed to 0.1X or keeping manual control around this event should allow you to better understand the aftershocks propagation.

Data:

• Topography and bathymetry: Etopo1 Global Relief Model
• Earthquakes: ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog
• Fault plane: Slab2: A Comprehensive Subduction Zone Geometry Model

Created with python and blender ( and love :) )

NEXT: add focal mechanisms, better metadata, funkier colormaps and superimpose historical maps?