<p>A new laser guided tool is helping geologists map in 3D exactly how earthquakes wreck landscapes, down to a few square inches of the devasted zone. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Scientists from the US, Mexico and China reported the most comprehensive before-and-after picture yet of an earthquake zone using data from the magnitude 7.2 event that struck near Mexicali, Mexico, in April 2010. <br /><br />New airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) equipment helped researchers make a detailed scan over about 140 square miles in less than three days, said Michael Oskin, geologist at the University of California, Davis, who led the study. <br /><br />"We can learn so much about how earthquakes work by studying fresh fault ruptures," Oskin was quoted as saying by the journal Science. <br /><br />The team, working with the National Centre for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM), flew over the area with LiDAR, which bounces a stream of laser pulses off the ground. Oskin said that they knew the area had been mapped with LiDAR in 2006 by the Mexican government, said a univeristy statement. <br /><br />When the earthquake occurred, Oskin and Ramon Arrowsmith of Arizona State University received rapid-response funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to carry out an immediate aerial survey to compare the results. <br /><br />Co-authors John Fletcher and Orlando Teran from Mexico's Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE), carried out a traditional ground survey of the fault rupture, which helped guide planning of the aerial LiDAR survey and interpretation of the results. <br /><br />"This study is an excellent demonstration of an emerging tool for Earth science," said Greg Anderson, NSF program director for EarthScope, which funded the research.</p>
<p>A new laser guided tool is helping geologists map in 3D exactly how earthquakes wreck landscapes, down to a few square inches of the devasted zone. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Scientists from the US, Mexico and China reported the most comprehensive before-and-after picture yet of an earthquake zone using data from the magnitude 7.2 event that struck near Mexicali, Mexico, in April 2010. <br /><br />New airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) equipment helped researchers make a detailed scan over about 140 square miles in less than three days, said Michael Oskin, geologist at the University of California, Davis, who led the study. <br /><br />"We can learn so much about how earthquakes work by studying fresh fault ruptures," Oskin was quoted as saying by the journal Science. <br /><br />The team, working with the National Centre for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM), flew over the area with LiDAR, which bounces a stream of laser pulses off the ground. Oskin said that they knew the area had been mapped with LiDAR in 2006 by the Mexican government, said a univeristy statement. <br /><br />When the earthquake occurred, Oskin and Ramon Arrowsmith of Arizona State University received rapid-response funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to carry out an immediate aerial survey to compare the results. <br /><br />Co-authors John Fletcher and Orlando Teran from Mexico's Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE), carried out a traditional ground survey of the fault rupture, which helped guide planning of the aerial LiDAR survey and interpretation of the results. <br /><br />"This study is an excellent demonstration of an emerging tool for Earth science," said Greg Anderson, NSF program director for EarthScope, which funded the research.</p>