from cnn:
Quake moves Japan coast, shifts Earth's axis
CNN
Updated Mar 12, 2011 at 01:03pm IST
Tokyo: The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami on Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by eight feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.
"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (eight feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly four inches (10 centimeters).
Quake moves Japan coast, shifts Earth's axis
CNN
Updated Mar 12, 2011 at 01:03pm IST
Tokyo: The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami on Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by eight feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.
"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (eight feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly four inches (10 centimeters).
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