April 13, 2016 - KANSAS, UNITED STATES - Two snakes with different personalities isn't that big a story - until
you realise these different reptile heads are attached to the same
slinky body.
The two-headed snake has one head which is more aggressive and physically attacks the other one.
Jason Talbott snapped the slithery serpent when his mates found it living in the wild, before taking it into captivity.
The 42-year-old from Kansas says that without working together the snake
was unable to bite anything effectively as both heads were required to
move the body.
Although it looked like a fearsome beast, the snake was harmless and
Jason admitted that its bite would not be enough to break a human's
skin.
Jason said: "It is estimated that it is 1 in 10,000 but it is
hard to know a true number as they are wild and elusive animals and
survival rate is very low.
"I'm a massive fan of creepy crawlies and snakes - I've photographed
hundreds of them and received a fair few bites along the way.
Fortunately they were non-venomous ones.
"The snake had been found by a few of my friends in the wild and when I
heard about it, I jumped at the opportunity to get some photos.
"What was funny about the snake was that the two-heads had
different personalities. One of the heads was very aggressive and kept
trying to bite at objects.
"But the problem was, because they both shared the same body, the
aggressive head needed the other one's cooperation to move. It was quite
funny to watch, really." - Daily Mirror.
April 13, 2016 - ASIA - A powerful earthquake, measuring 6.9 magnitude, struck the border of India and Myanmar on Wednesday at 7:25 p.m. local time.
Tremors were reportedly felt across the region in Kolkata and as far as Delhi.
The United States Geological Survey reported the magnitude of the
earthquake in a tweet and identified it was 74 kilometers (45 miles)
southeast of Mawlaik, Myanmar.
Prelim. Report M6.9 - 74km SE of Mawlaik, Burma You can report feeling the earthquake at: http://on.doi.gov/1qHTyzq pic.twitter.com/EjUwVGaqCl
British seismologist Steven J. Gibbons tweeted an image of the earthquake's seismic signals.
WATCH: Scenes during the tremor.
Seismic signal recorded in Karasjok, Norway, from the #Myanmar
#earthquake #EQ
http://www.norsardata.no/cgi-bin/spdatashow.cgi?sta=ARC&year=2016&doy=104
...pic.twitter.com/46ZG8Tu69u
USGS shakemap intensity.
Given the earthquake actually occurred well below the Earth's surface —
approximately 134 kilometers (83 miles) below, according to BNO News — the event is not as devastating as it could have been. Thus far, there have been no casualties reported. - Mic.
Tectonic Summary
The April 13, 2016 M 6.9 earthquake southeast of Mawlaik, Burma,
occurred as the result of oblique reverse faulting at an intermediate
depth, approximately 140 km beneath western Burma. The epicenter of the
earthquake is located some 500 km to the northeast of the Sunda Trench,
where lithosphere of the India plate begins subducting to the northeast
beneath Sunda and Eurasia. Focal mechanisms indicate rupture occurred on
either a west-striking fault dipping steeply to the north, or on a
southeast striking structure dipping moderately to the southwest. The
location, depth and faulting parameters all indicate this earthquake
occurred within the lithosphere of the subducting India plate. At the
location of this earthquake, the India plate moves north-northeast with
respect to the Sunda and Eurasia plates, at a velocity of 44-49 mm/yr.
Regionally, the subducted India plate is seismically active to a depth
of about 150 km.
Earthquakes like this event, with focal depths between 70 and 300 km,
are commonly termed "intermediate-depth" earthquakes. Intermediate-depth
earthquakes represent deformation within subducted slabs rather than at
the shallow plate interface between subducting and overriding tectonic
plates. They typically cause less severe shaking on the ground surface
directly above their foci than is the case with similar magnitude
shallow-focus earthquakes, but large intermediate-depth earthquakes
beneath populated regions may nonetheless cause damage and casualties,
and they may be felt at great distance from their epicenters.
The Burma region experiences earthquakes somewhat regularly, and 38
other events of M 6 or larger have occurred within 400 km of the April
13, 2016 event over the preceding century. Eleven of these occurred at
intermediate depths. The largest nearby earthquake was a M 8.0 event in
September 1946, 130 km to the northeast of the April 2016 earthquake, at
a depth of 15 km. Little is known about the effects of that earthquake.
At intermediate depths, the largest nearby historic event was a M 7.3
earthquake in August 1988 in northern Burma, 200 km to the north of the
April 2016 event. The 1988 earthquake caused several fatalities and
dozens more injuries.
USGS plate tectonics for the region.
Seismotectonics of the Himalaya and Vicinity
Seismicity
in the Himalaya dominantly results from the continental collision of
the India and Eurasia plates, which are converging at a relative rate of
40-50 mm/yr. Northward underthrusting of India beneath Eurasia
generates numerous earthquakes and consequently makes this area one of
the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth. The surface expression
of the plate boundary is marked by the foothills of the north-south
trending Sulaiman Range in the west, the Indo-Burmese Arc in the east
and the east-west trending Himalaya Front in the north of India.
The
India-Eurasia plate boundary is a diffuse boundary, which in the region
near the north of India, lies within the limits of the Indus-Tsangpo
(also called the Yarlung-Zangbo) Suture to the north and the Main
Frontal Thrust to the south. The Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone is located
roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an exposed
ophiolite chain along its southern margin. The narrow (less than 200km)
Himalaya Front includes numerous east-west trending, parallel
structures. This region has the highest rates of seismicity and largest
earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by movement on thrust
faults. Examples of significant earthquakes, in this densely populated
region, caused by reverse slip movement include the 1934 M8.1 Bihar, the
1905 M7.5 Kangra and the 2005 M7.6 Kashmir earthquakes. The latter two
resulted in the highest death tolls for Himalaya earthquakes seen to
date, together killing over 100,000 people and leaving millions
homeless. The largest instrumentally recorded Himalaya earthquake
occurred on 15th August 1950 in Assam, eastern India. This M8.6
right-lateral, strike-slip, earthquake was widely felt over a broad area
of central Asia, causing extensive damage to villages in the epicentral
region.
The Tibetan Plateau is situated north of the
Himalaya, stretching approximately 1000km north-south and 2500km
east-west, and is geologically and tectonically complex with several
sutures which are hundreds of kilometer-long and generally trend
east-west. The Tibetan Plateau is cut by a number of large (greater than
1000km) east-west trending, left-lateral, strike-slip faults, including
the long Kunlun, Haiyuan, and the Altyn Tagh. Right-lateral,
strike-slip faults (comparable in size to the left-lateral faults), in
this region include the Karakorum, Red River, and Sagaing. Secondary
north-south trending normal faults also cut the Tibetan Plateau. Thrust
faults are found towards the north and south of the Tibetan Plateau.
Collectively, these faults accommodate crustal shortening associated
with the ongoing collision of the India and Eurasia plates, with thrust
faults accommodating north south compression, and normal and strike-slip
accommodating east-west extension.
Along the western
margin of the Tibetan Plateau, in the vicinity of south-eastern
Afghanistan and western Pakistan, the India plate translates obliquely
relative to the Eurasia plate, resulting in a complex fold-and-thrust
belt known as the Sulaiman Range. Faulting in this region includes
strike-slip, reverse-slip and oblique-slip motion and often results in
shallow, destructive earthquakes. The active, left-lateral, strike-slip
Chaman fault is the fastest moving fault in the region. In 1505, a
segment of the Chaman fault near Kabul, Afghanistan, ruptured causing
widespread destruction. In the same region the more recent 30 May 1935,
M7.6 Quetta earthquake, which occurred in the Sulaiman Range in
Pakistan, killed between 30,000 and 60,000 people.
On
the north-western side of the Tibetan Plateau, beneath the Pamir-Hindu
Kush Mountains of northern Afghanistan, earthquakes occur at depths as
great as 200 km as a result of remnant lithospheric subduction. The
curved arc of deep earthquakes found in the Hindu Kush Pamir region
indicates the presence of a lithospheric body at depth, thought to be
remnants of a subducting slab. Cross-sections through the Hindu Kush
region suggest a near vertical northerly-dipping subducting slab,
whereas cross-sections through the nearby Pamir region to the east
indicate a much shallower dipping, southerly subducting slab. Some
models suggest the presence of two subduction zones; with the Indian
plate being subducted beneath the Hindu Kush region and the Eurasian
plate being subducted beneath the Pamir region. However, other models
suggest that just one of the two plates is being subducted and that the
slab has become contorted and overturned in places.
Shallow
crustal earthquakes also occur in this region near the Main Pamir
Thrust and other active Quaternary faults. The Main Pamir Thrust, north
of the Pamir Mountains, is an active shortening structure. The northern
portion of the Main Pamir Thrust produces many shallow earthquakes,
whereas its western and eastern borders display a combination of thrust
and strike-slip mechanisms. On the 18 February 1911, the M7.4 Sarez
earthquake ruptured in the Central Pamir Mountains, killing numerous
people and triggering a landside, which blocked the Murghab River.
Further
north, the Tian Shan is a seismically active intra-continental mountain
belt, which extends 2500 km in an ENE-WNW orientation north of the
Tarim Basin. This belt is defined by numerous east-west trending thrust
faults, creating a compressional basin and range landscape. It is
generally thought that regional stresses associated with the collision
of the India and Eurasia plates are responsible for faulting in the
region. The region has had three major earthquakes (greater than M7.6)
at the start of the 20th Century, including the 1902 Atushi earthquake,
which killed an estimated 5,000 people. The range is cut through in the
west by the 700-km-long, northwest-southeast striking, Talas-Ferghana
active right-lateral, strike-slip fault system. Though the system has
produced no major earthquakes in the last 250 years, paleo-seismic
studies indicate that it has the potential to produce M7.0+ earthquakes
and it is thought to represent a significant hazard.
The
northern portion of the Tibetan Plateau itself is largely dominated by
the motion on three large left-lateral, strike-slip fault systems; the
Altyn Tagh, Kunlun and Haiyuan. The Altyn Tagh fault is the longest of
these strike slip faults and it is thought to accommodate a significant
portion of plate convergence. However, this system has not experienced
significant historical earthquakes, though paleoseismic studies show
evidence of prehistoric M7.0-8.0 events. Thrust faults link with the
Altyn Tagh at its eastern and western termini. The Kunlun Fault, south
of the Altyn Tagh, is seismically active, producing large earthquakes
such as the 8th November 1997, M7.6 Manyi earthquake and the 14th
November 2001, M7.8 Kokoxili earthquake. The Haiyuan Fault, in the far
north-east, generated the 16 December 1920, M7.8 earthquake that killed
approximately 200,000 people and the 22 May 1927 M7.6 earthquake that
killed 40,912.
The Longmen Shan thrust belt, along the
eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, is an important structural
feature and forms a transitional zone between the complexly deformed
Songpan-Garze Fold Belt and the relatively undeformed Sichuan Basin. On
12 May 2008, the thrust belt produced the reverse slip, M7.9 Wenchuan
earthquake, killing over 87,000 people and causing billions of US
dollars in damages and landslides which dammed several rivers and lakes.
Southeast of the Tibetan Plateau are the
right-lateral, strike-slip Red River and the left-lateral, strike-slip
Xiangshuihe-Xiaojiang fault systems. The Red River Fault experienced
large scale, left-lateral ductile shear during the Tertiary period
before changing to its present day right-lateral slip rate of
approximately 5 mm/yr. This fault has produced several earthquakes
greater than M6.0 including the 4 January 1970, M7.5 earthquake in
Tonghai which killed over 10,000 people. Since the start of the 20th
century, the Xiangshuihe-Xiaojiang Fault system has generated several
M7.0+ earthquakes including the M7.5 Luhuo earthquake which ruptured on
the 22 April 1973. Some studies suggest that due to the high slip rate
on this fault, future large earthquakes are highly possible along the
65km stretch between Daofu and Qianning and the 135km stretch that runs
through Kangding.
Shallow earthquakes within the
Indo-Burmese Arc, predominantly occur on a combination of strike-slip
and reverse faults, including the Sagaing, Kabaw and Dauki faults.
Between 1930 and 1956, six M7.0+ earthquakes occurred near the
right-lateral Sagaing Fault, resulting in severe damage in Myanmar
including the generation of landslides, liquefaction and the loss of 610
lives. Deep earthquakes (200km) have also been known to occur in this
region, these are thought to be due to the subduction of the eastwards
dipping, India plate, though whether subduction is currently active is
debated. Within the pre-instrumental period, the large Shillong
earthquake occurred on the 12 June 1897, causing widespread destruction.
April 13, 2016 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.
Dead Bryde's whale spotted off Thailand coast
Officials are on the lookout for the body a 20-metre long Bryde's whale
that is expected to reach the Sarasin Bridge, at the northern tip of
Phuket, late this afternoon (Apr 13).
The remains were reported by a tour company at about 6pm yesterday,
which spotted the remains about 12 nautical miles from Tab Lamu Pier.
"From the pictures we received, we believe the whale died three to four
days before earlier," said Nat Kongkesorn, Chief of Similan National
Park.
"We have been looking for the whale since this morning, but have yet to
find it. Depending on weather conditions, it might reach Sarasin Bridge
this afternoon," he said.
"I have informed the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC). If the
whale is found, the PMBC will examine the remains to try to determine
the cause of death," Chief Nat added.
The PMBC confirmed their officers have launched a search for the whale.
Any persons who seen the whale's remains are urged to call the PMBC at 076-391128.
10,000 tons of dead sardines found along river in Chile
