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Starting in 2009 the state of Oklahoma has seen a dramatic increase in seismic activity. According to Wikipedia, it has gone from an average of less than two 3.0+ Mw earthquakes per year to hundreds in 2014 and 2015. This has been caused by increased drilling for oil and the subsequent pumping of waste water into disposal wells deep underground. Read more here. As a result of the increased seismic activity, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released a new ‘damage map’ showing the risk of damage due to earthquakes significantly increased for the region. Read more about it here and find the map here.

Google Earth has a built in ‘Earthquakes’ layer found in the ‘Gallery’ layer. It only shows earthquakes over 3.0 Mw and as you zoom out it filters out the smaller ones. The result is that when looking at the whole of the continental U.S., Oklahoma doesn’t stand out as being particularly unusual.

However, the ‘Earthquakes’ layer is provided by the USGS and it is possible to obtain more detailed layers directly from them. Go here for automatic live feeds that show recent earthquakes, or here for more advanced queries.

If we choose the “Past 30 Days, M2.5+ Earthquakes” and “Colored by age”, the cluster in Oklahoma immediately becomes apparent:

We can also use the more advanced queries to compare 2008 and 2015:

Earthquakes 2.5+ Mw during 2008.

Earthquakes 2.5+ Mw during 2015.

To see the above in Google Earth download this KML file. The 2008 and 2015 datasets only cover the region around Oklahoma as the USGS website has a limit on the number of quakes allowed in a single query.

The post The Oklahoma Earthquakes appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

The end of June is nearly upon us. Here are some of the highlights from the month:

We took a look at Colin Hazelhurt’s “Sailing Alone Around the World” set of tours, which he continues to create each week.

We showed you fresh imagery from the devastation following the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma.

Google pushed out some nice updates to their ocean map, as well as fresh 3D Imagery in a variety of cities around the world and quite a lot of fresh Street View imagery.

NASA’s Earth Observatory shared some amazing imagery from the Bingham Canyon Mine landslide.

We showed you some of our favorite tips for making Google Earth work better on your computer.

Google took Street View to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, then they updated the base imagery to look even more amazing from space.

If you’re looking for more areas to explore, these 25,000 ancient sites should keep you busy.

What was your favorite Google Earth story in June?

The post The best of Google Earth for June, 2013 appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

As they did not long after Hurricane Sandy struck the northeast United States last fall, Google has just pushed out new imagery from the devastating tornado that recently hit Moore, Oklahoma.

The imagery was captured on May 21, 2013, just one day after the tornado hit.  It’s not the default imagery for the area, but if you simply fly to Moore and turn on the Historical Imagery layer you’ll see it.  For a bit of help with that, this KML file will fly you there and turn on the historical imagery for you.

Thanks to GEB reader ‘Munden’ for letting us know about it.

The post Imagery from the Moore, Oklahoma tornado now in Google Earth appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

As Google often does after horrible events like the tornadoes in Oklahoma this week, Google has created a Crisis Response Page to assist with the relief effort.  The map includes a wealth of information including shelter locations, church and school closings, storm reports, a preliminary tornado track and much more.

In addition, the +Google for Media page has created 3D models of Plaza Towers Elementary School, Briarwood Elementary School and Moore Medical Center for use as needed.  You can download the models here.

Another source of mapping information is the BBC, which has a detailed map of the tornado, along with a variety of before/after pictures.

While the residents of Oklahoma will certainly value your thoughts and prayers, financial assistance is often the best way you can help.  We strongly encourage you to donate to the American Red Cross to support their efforts.

UPDATE: New info from NOAA’s Steve Ansari

A few years ago Steve shared some amazing visualizations of the Joplin tornado, and he’s back with similar images from Oklahoma.  You can download the files/movies here, and see a sample below:

The post Moore, Oklahoma in Google Earth appeared first on Google Earth Blog.