image: Aerial oblique of a newly uplifted coral reef, showing the seismic cycle. The dead tree snags represent jungle trees that had grown when their roots were above the sea. Slow subsidence above the locked Mentawai patch of the Sunda megathrust lowered them into the sea. Just before the September 2007 earthquakes, the shoreline was to their left, at the sandy beach and their substrate was below lowest tide. Uplift during the September 2007 earthquake raised their bases once again well above low tide. This image accompanied the report "Earthquake Supercycles Inferred from Sea-Level Changes Recorded in the Corals of West Sumatra," by Dr. Kerry Sieh et al. appearing in the Dec. 12, 2008 issue of Science. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of <i>Science</i>/AAAS