Nuclear weapons detonations are not always accompanied by a mushroom cloud. Today the telltale signs of an underground nuclear detonation are huge craters. In the photo above, you are not looking at a picture of the Moon’s surface. These are nuclear detonation craters in the Nevada Desert. This crater is the Sedan crater at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. It is nearly a quarter-mile wide and 320 feet deep. One purpose of the 1962 Sedan test was to investigate whether nuclear weapons could be used to destroy towns and cities but make it appear as though an earthquake caused the destruction. Theory suggests that a nuclear explosion could trigger fault rupture and cause a major quake at distances within a few tens of kilometres from the shot point. Years of U.S. underground nuclear detonation testings proved that the pressure wave from an underground explosion will propagate through the ground and cause an earthquake. The U.S. could attack any city of their choice and not be held accountable for such an attack as the destruction could always be blamed on an earthquake.

A magnitude 4.2 tremor was detected by the United States Geological Survey in the Nevada desert today July 30, 2010 11:13:46 UTC. Analysis of the tremor indicates that it may be the result of an underground nuclear detonation. If post tremor analysis of the seismic data shows that it was a detonation then this would give evidence that the United States has violated the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty which bans all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes. The Treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996. China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Israel and the United States have already signed the Treaty, whereas India, North Korea and Pakistan have not yet signed it.

(Article I):

1. Each State Party undertakes not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion, and to prohibit and prevent any such nuclear explosion at any place under its jurisdiction or control.
2. Each State Party undertakes, furthermore, to refrain from causing, encouraging, or in any way participating in the carrying out of any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.

How do scientists determine if a nuclear blast has occurred?

One method of detecting a nuclear blast is by seismograph, the device that monitors Earth tremors to pinpoint and analyze earthquake activity (among other ground-shaking events). There’s a whole network of 500 seismograph stations positioned around the world whose job is to report ground-shaking incidents, and that includes any evidence of bomb blasts. NPR’s “Detecting Underground Nuclear Blasts” reports that the seismic activity recorded on the confirmed October 9, 2006 North Korean underground nuclear test indicated a ground disturbance that would be the equivalent of a 4.2 magnitude earthquake. That magnitude indicates a blast with about a 1-kiloton yield, which is equal to the power of 1,000 tons of TNT.

Figuring out if a seismic event is an earthquake or a bomb blast is relatively easy. Scientists perform analyses of wave patterns that can accurately confirm an earthquake-versus-explosion determination. In highly simplified terms, in an earthquake, the ground starts shaking slowly as plates slide against each other, and then the seismic activity slow picks up as the ground really starts to move. In an explosion scenario, the initial blast is extremely power­ful, and the subsequent shaking of the ground grows progressively less severe.

Livermore seismologist Bill Walter explains that the differences in seismic P- and S-wave energy provide one method of discriminating explosions from earthquakes. Seismic P waves are compressional waves, similar to sound waves in the air. Shear (S) waves are transverse waves, like those that propagate along a rope when one end is shaken. Because underground explosions are spherically symmetric disturbances, they radiate seismic P waves efficiently. In contrast, earthquakes result from sliding or rupture along a buried fault surface and strongly excite the transverse motions of S waves. Thus, we expect that explosions will show strong P waves and weak S waves and that earthquakes will show weak P waves and strong S waves, as seen in the seismic graph below.

Today, July 30, 2010 the United States appears to have violated the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Israel and the United States have already signed the Treaty) with an underground nuclear detonation. Seismic activity has been used by UN nuclear watchdogs in the past to detect underground nuclear testing. The UN used seismographic analysis to confirm all nuclear weapon testing by North Korea. The United States Geological Survey detected a tremor of 4.2 magnitude on the Korean Peninsula and analysis of the data proved that North Korea had detonated a nuclear device. China called the tests a “flagrant and brazen” violation of international opinion and said it “firmly opposes” North Korea’s conduct.

Since January 19, 1968, when a thermonuclear test, codenamed Faultless, was conducted by the U.S. in the Central Nevada Supplemental Test Area scientists have noticed a distinct difference between a natural occurring earthquake and a nuclear detonation induced earthquake. Analysis of local seismic recordings (within a couple of miles) of nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site showed that some tectonic stress is released simultaneously with the explosion. Analysis of the seismic wavefield generated by the blast shows the source can be characterized as 70-80 percent dilational (explosive-like) and 20-30 percent deviatoric (earthquake-like). The rock in the vicinity of the thermonuclear device is shattered by the passage of the explosions shock wave. This releases the elastic strain energy that was stored in the rock and adds an earthquake-like component to the seismic wavefield.

The U.S. has been using nuclear development and testing allegations against Iran to impose strict economic sanctions against Iran. U.S. headlines keep on declaring that Iran is in violation of nuclear weapons development and testing treaties with no evidence whatsoever to support their claims. Today the U.S. has done what they accuse Iran of secretly doing. Perhaps it is time to impose severe economic sanctions against the United States for secretly developing and testing nuclear weapons - a clear violation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

News Update

Epicenter of Today’s Magnitude 4.2 tremor in Nevada. The Nevada Seismology Lab site records the tremor occurring at 4:13 a.m (Nevada Time). Location 38.622°N, 118.212°W as stated by the United States Geological Survey. N