Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Namazu, the earthquake-causing catfish


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Image of the Week #33, March 12th, 2012:


From: Namazu the Earthshaker by David Bressan at History of Geology.

Source: 1855, image in public domain.

One year ago this week, Japan was reeling from the effects of the strongest earthquake ever recorded and the devestating tsunami that followed. But earthquakes and tsunamis are woven deep into Japanese lore. Before science was able to explain these disastrous events, mythical explanations prevailed. This image shows the pesky giant catfish, Namazu, who was kept in line most of the time by the god Kashima. But when Kashima was tired or distracted, Namazu would wiggle his tail and rattle the earth. Also relevant and interesting: A short History of Earthquakes in Japan

Bora ZivkovicAbout the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=cc3a829b714a81e9900aae986a6b0edf

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