About the Talk

“Seismic Monitoring at Blue Hill and the Mystery of Earthquakes in the Eastern United States”

Alan Kafka reflects on the purpose and future of seismic monitoring at Blue Hill Observatory, plus his latest thoughts on earthquakes in New England.

When people think of earthquakes, they usually picture California or Japan, not the Eastern United States. Alan Kafka discovered otherwise as a graduate student, and has spent his career since studying why earthquakes occur here, deep within the interior of the North American plate, far from any plate boundary. The Northeastern US has had an intermediate level of seismic activity throughout its recorded history, including a magnitude ~5.9 earthquake off Cape Ann, Massachusetts in 1755, two magnitude ~5.5 earthquakes near Ossipee, New Hampshire in 1940, and a magnitude ~5.3 earthquake near New York City in 1884.

Unlike seismicity near plate boundaries such as the San Andreas fault, earthquakes in this region show no clear correlation with mapped faults, leaving their cause an open and fascinating mystery. Alan will discuss Blue Hill’s own seismic recordings of earthquakes around the world, and share his latest thinking on the purpose, hopes, and dreams for seismic monitoring at the Observatory going forward.

Featuring

Alan Kafka

Independent Scientist · Retired Professor of Geophysics, Boston College

Alan Kafka’s research and teaching explore geophysics, earthquake science, applied mathematics, environmental systems, and community science for the greater good. He studies earthquakes in many regions of the world and has long been obsessed with the enigma of why earthquakes occur in the Eastern US. He is also active in the global community of seismologists maintaining networks of seismographs for monitoring seismic events worldwide. After 42 years teaching at Boston College and conducting research at BC’s Weston Observatory, he retired from his faculty position at the end of 2025 to pursue his lifelong dream of being an independent scientist.