🔎 Seismic Stop Sign When earthquakes start rumbling, what eventually stops them? An earthquake is a rupture on a fault line between tectonic plates, which spreads as seismic waves until it reaches an area of less stress or hits a physical barrier underground (like a change in the ground’s makeup or trapped high-pressure fluid). Researchers were able to identify the signature of an earthquake as it hit an underground barrier. To do so, they looked for a signal in the seismic and geodetic data registered by sensors in the direct paths of 12 large earthquakes across the globe. In the case of five of the earthquakes enough sensors were along the fault for that the team to see how the barriers stopped them. Why this matters: Researchers were able to identify a “stopping phase” signature in an earthquake’s seismic data. Next, the researchers can pinpoint these phases in past earthquakes’ data to map out underground barriers and assess how much energy they can absorb. This could help geolo...