Biggest Earthquake On Record Hits Norway's Svalbard Archipelago - 6.2 Richter - AFP

Maybe that seed vault isn't quite as safe as we thought . . .

Norway's biggest ever earthquake, measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, shook the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard early Thursday, a Norwegian seismology institute said.

No one was injured and no damage was reported after the earthquake struck about 140 kilometres (87 miles) souteast of Lonyearbyen, the main town in the archipelago that is home to some 2,300 people.

"The earthquake happened at sea ... and was powerfully felt in Longyearbyen. This is the biggest earthquake ever registered in Norwegian territory," the Norsar research institute said in a statement. "Numerous after-shocks have been registered, and these will keep coming," the statement said.

Longyearbyen, one of the world's most northerly towns, is home to a new "doomsday vault" of samples of the most important seeds on Earth aimed at providing mankind with a reserve in the event of a global catastrophe.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Norways_biggest_quake_ever_in_Arctic_archipelago_999.html

:)

There is probably no way of knowing for certain this soon, but we should be alert to the possibility.

I am sure the USGS and other earth science centers are keeping track of it. And when they are ready to decide how to present it, you can be sure that "faster than we expected" will be part of the press release.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isostatic_rebound">Isostatic or Post-Glacial Rebound (at Wikipedia).

--p!