7.1M earthquake in Mexico detected at Olympic Mountains

Most of the 300 seismograph stations in the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network picked up the deadly earthquake in central Mexico that rattled the country's capital Tuesday.

>> See photos of the devastation here. 

Video from local stations in Mexico show collapsed facades and streets filled with rubble in the wake of magnitude 7.1 quake that killed at least 100 people.

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On the other side of the continent, a PNSN map was lit up with red and yellow icons, marked where the foreign seismic event was detected on seismographs in Washington state. This includes instruments from the Olympics to the Cascades mountain ranges.

Distant recordings are not unusual.

When the strongest earthquake (magnitude 8.1) to hit Mexico in nearly a century struck earlier in the month, seismic stations on Mount Rainier also recorded it.

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“The whole mountain was ringing from this earthquake,” said Pacific Northwest Seismic Network director of communication and outreach Bill Steele.

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Sensitive international seismographs, such as the ones on Mount Rainier, pick up events with magnitudes of about 4.5 or greater. The tools magnify ground motion – the movement of the earth's surface from earthquakes or explosions – as it travels through the earth and along its surface.

As the instruments have the ability to measure local seismic events, it can also take what's called teleseismic recordings. That's when an earthquake is measured more than 1,000 kilometers from the actual event

These distant recordings contribute to global research in disasters such as the one in Mexico. Local seismologists observe the events and then collaborate on real-time data.

“A scientist in Japan and Mexico can use that data in real time for research to study that earthquake ... The data is shared freely in the USGS," Steele said. “First arrivals from around the world create a picture of how the fault broke and slipped by going backward to image where the energy was and how it was processed."

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As it does with every big earthquake, the United States Geological Survey is providing preliminary impact information and interactive maps on this resource page about the devastating Mexico quake so that the public can better understand the events leading up to the event.

Cox Media Group