IN THE NEWS
Pinned (Profile feature articles):
7 Nov 2024, Science, by Paul Voosen
In Botswana, a geologist hunts for signs of the rifting that is tearing the continent apart
Botswana— Nearly all rivers flow into the sea. Coursing through the middle of Africa is a curious exception: Botswana’s Okavango River. It flows hundreds of kilometers across the Kalahari Desert before dissipating as a delta in a swampy depression, an oasis for a dizzying array of wildlife.
The inland basin exists because deep-seated geological forces are tearing Africa up, stretching apart ancient blocks of crust...
7 Nov 2024, Science, Logbook by Paul Voosen
For Folarin Kolawole, an early career structural geologist at Columbia University, unexpected earthquakes yield unexpected opportunities. Earlier this year, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck the New York region, and Kolawole had just happened to inherit the phone number of Nando Seeber, a seismologist who had long been the go-to media source for such quakes. “Are you a seismologist?” the reporters asked. “No, but I study faults,” he said, referring to the deep places where rock collides and slip that are, of course, the source of earthquakes. The calls and TV spots went on and on for hours. But then, finally, he was able to slip out into the night, searching for evidence in the New Jersey landscape for the exact fault that slipped, and why.
The quake was fresh on Kolawole’s mind when I joined him in Botswana this past May, following his work tracking the earliest stages of continental rifting... Continue reading
Other articles:
DW (Deutsche Welle)
Article by Abubakar Sa’id Sa’ad & Hannah Heckelsmüller
Myanmar's deadly earthquake has raised alarms beyond Southeast Asia. In Africa, fault lines stretching across the continent pose serious risks, yet preparedness remains low. The recent earthquake in Myanmar has drawn fresh attention to global preparedness for natural disasters, including on the African continent...
Folarin Kolawole, a structural geologist at Columbia University, US, says assessing a region's earthquake risk involves looking at historic earthquakes in the region and identifying fault lines, which are fractures between rocks. Africa, he says, lies on a complex geological structure that makes it vulnerable to seismic activity. At the core of this risk is the East African Rift System, where the African Plate is slowly splitting into the Nubian and Somali Plates. As these plates drift apart more, Kolawole says it leads to earthquakes in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
4 April 2025, Newsday, with Lorena Mongelli
Year after 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled Long Island, a recent microquake recorded near epicenter
One year after a rare earthquake rattled Long Island, scientists have discovered continued seismic activity near the New Jersey epicenter of that tremblor — with the most recent microquake recorded by the United States Geological Survey last week. On March 25, about five miles from the epicenter of last year’s quake, geologists recorded a 0.7 magnitude earthquake in Califon, New Jersey, according to USGS geophysicist Dara Goldberg, who is based in Colorado. Quakes lower than a 3.0 magnitude are unlikely to be felt by people, according to scientists.
Since the 4.8 magnitude earthquake on April 5, 2024, which was felt on the Eastern Seaboard from Maine and to parts of Virginia, scientists at the USGS and Columbia University have been investigating the reasons behind it, while assessing future risks...
12 Oct 2024, News12, with Edric Robinson
According to the study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the earthquake did not occur along the well-known Ramapo Fault, which runs through parts of New York and New Jersey.
A recent study has provided new insights into the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that shook parts of New York City back in April, despite its epicenter being located in Tewksbury, New Jersey. Scientists from Columbia University have been investigating the cause of the quake and its implications for the region...
April 19, 2024, Bergen Record, By Chris Pedota
Assistant Professor of Structural Geology Folarin 'Fola' Kolawole and his staff from the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory does fieldwork near the epicenter looking for clues of the impact of last Friday's 4.8 magnitude earthquake. Here the research team of Prof. Kolawole and Zachary Foster-Baril, Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory look out over the Solitude Dam where they will measure cracks in the outcropping of large rocks at the foot of the falls... Continue reading
April 19, 2024, Bergen Record, By Jim O’Neill
Many went into the field to gather clues about the geology beneath New Jersey, including the ancient Ramapo Fault system...
“The Ramapo Fault does not seem to be slipping,” he said. “It's the secondary faults that seem more susceptible to slip.”... Continue reading
April 17, 2024, Lamont News, By Kevin Kranjik
On April 5, 2024, an unusually large earthquake hit under New Jersey’s rural Tewksbury township, sending waves into Philadelphia, the New York metropolitan area and beyond. Within hours, scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory headed to the field to help understand exactly what had just happened. First out was structural geologist Folarin Kolawole, who reached the epicentral area within hours, looking for signs of ground disturbance. A few days later, another team helped lay out a temporary network of seismometers nearby to monitor aftershocks... Continue reading
April 5, 2024, The New York Times, By William J. Broad
The quake on Friday occurred on the Ramapo system of faults, which runs through arms of the northern Appalachian Mountains in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Faults are lines of fractures between two blocks of rock in the Earth’s crust, the geologic layer that is closest to the surface.
The U.S. Geological Survey put its magnitude at 4.8 — quite large for the fault system, according to Folarin Kolawole, a geologist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, which is in Palisades, New York... Continue reading
April 6, 2024, NBC4 New York, with Gus Rosendale
We talked with Professor Folarin Kolawole with the Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University about yesterday earthquake and what exactly happened. Watch it here
April 6, 2024, LiveNOW from FOX, with Josh Breslow
Dr. Folarin Kolawole of Columbia University spoke with LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow about what caused Friday's 4.8 magnitude earthquake felt in more than a dozen states and the likelihood of additional aftershocks.
Watch it here
April 5, 2024, The Daily Beast, by Justin Rohrlich
Experts say New York City in particular is not built to withstand a massive earthquake and that preparations need to be undertaken now to avert a possible catastrophe...Continue reading
April 5, 2024, News Nation, with Hena Doba
January 2, 2024, ABC7 Eyewitness News Extra Time, with Joe Torres
A rare 1.7 magnitude earthquake hit New York City.
NORMAN, OKLA. – A team of University of Oklahoma researchers recently published their findings on the connections between injection-related earthquake activity, and pre-existing fault systems in the granitic basement rocks that underlie large portions of Oklahoma in the journal Nature-Geoscience.
It has been speculated that wastewater injection is the cause of the recent increase in seismic activity in the central and eastern US, including Oklahoma where the highest concentration of seismicity has occurred. However, the necessary ‘ingredients’ required for the observed earthquakes have yet to be fully identified. The team of researchers in OU’s Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy were able to identify distinctive characteristics of Oklahoma’s basement that makes it susceptible to injection-related earthquakes. Their study highlights in detail, for the first time, the most complete list of ‘ingredients’ necessary to generate widespread induced earthquakes.
The study, concentrating on activity in Oklahoma through a multidisciplinary approach of data collection and analyses, was led by OU doctoral student Folarin Kolawole. Other participants include School of Geosciences faculty Kurt Marfurt, Ze’ev Reches and Brett Carpenter; former students Candace Johnston and Chance Morgan; and U.S. Geological Survey geophysicists Jefferson Chang and David Lockner.... Continue reading
December 12, 2017
Podcast Interview: Leigh, D., Watkins, R., & Kolawole, F.. Parsing Science – Fault Reactivation and Earthquakes. figshare: doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5915350
In this episode we talk with Folarin Kolawole from the University of Oklahoma about his research into how the reactivation of faults can lead to earthquakes in places where they’ve never before occurred in recorded history. His open-access article “Aeromagnetic, gravity, and Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar analyses reveal the causative fault of the 3 April 2017 Mw 6.5 Moiyabana, Botswana, earthquake” with was published with seven other researchers in September 2017 in Geophysical Research Letters.... Listen to the podcast here
Seequent News & Updates, November 15, 2018
Groundbreaking doctoral research led by Folarin Kolawole through Oklahoma State University cites filtering and interpreting “high-resolution aeromagnetic data in tectonically-active areas with large human populations can be extremely useful for assessing the seismic hazards.” Kolawole’s study showed connections between factors that were previously unlinked, leveraging limited data from a series of sources, such as rock strength, previous incidents of earthquake, and aeromagnetics.
Using Oasis montaj, our software solution that provides modeling and analysis tools, to filter and explore this data gave Kolawole unprecedented insight into how environmental factors work together to reveal likely outcomes. This kind of data collection and analysis will lead to safer cities, earlier and more accurate detection and preparedness actions, and less loss of life and property, as well as reduced strain on infrastructure.... Continue reading
Seequent Case Studies & Impact Stories, June 19, 2018
As any earth scientist knows, earthquakes are notoriously difficult to predict. It’s clear to most other people too—we’ve all witnessed the devastating effects of earthquakes in populated areas; especially where there was no prior knowledge of subsurface faults. Folarin Kolawole and his team used existing aeromagnetic data to elucidate the relationship between fault segments, pre-existing basement fabric and the locations of surface faulting related to the 2009 Mw 6.0 Karonga, Malawi, earthquake along the hinge zone of a segment of the Malawi Rift.... Continue reading
Shortly after 7 am on Saturday, September 3, 2016, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Pawnee. While only injuring one, the temblor registered as the strongest quake in Oklahoma state history, and tied for the strongest quake registered in the continental U.S. outside of the Western region.
The occurrence of such a powerful earthquake also provided an OSU research team, led by recent Master’s recipient Folarin Kolawole, a unique opportunity to chart how the earth is susceptible to change under the stress of seismic events. In a paper published in an upcoming issue of “Seismological Research Letters,” Kolawole details how his team used the measurement of geoelectrical resistivity to map ground conditions susceptible to liquefaction during an earthquake.... Continue reading