Timika (4°28'39.36"S; 136°51'2.25"E)

After a tiring flight I arrived in Timika a small city on the island of Papa New Guinea.  I took in a quick bite to eat at Hotel Rimba Papua, and then immediately set out for a round of golf. 



<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g297703-d301786-Rimba_Papua_Hotel-Timika_Papua.html"><img alt="Photos of Rimba Papua Hotel, Timika" src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/03/0e/d6/09/rimba-papua-hotel.jpg"/></a><br/>This photo of <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297703-d301786-Reviews-Rimba_Papua_Hotel-Timika_Papua.html">Rimba Papua Hotel</a> is courtesy of TripAdvisor

 

As you can see the golf course was amazing, unfortunately I lost the game because on the last putt I felt a tremor run through the ground and I twitched sideways and sprayed the putt wide of the hole.  I was in disbelief.  What were the chances of a small earthquake hitting right as I was putting!

 

http://jeremyberg.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/angrygolfer.jpg

well maybe I wasn't that angry!

I wanted to find out what the actual chance of experiencing an earthquake during golf would be so I did a little research on the tectonics of Papa New Guinea. It turns out that Timika lies very close to a transformer fault.  A transformer fault is were two plates meet, each plate is moving in a different direction so they end up rubbing against each other causing massive earthquakes.  Another example of a transformer fault is the San Andres fault, right next to San Francisco.  

 



http://www.gweaver.net/techhigh/projects/period1_2/Yellowstone/Images/transform.jpeg

 

Timika lies next to the transformer fault made by the Australian plate and the Maoke Maoke plate.  When these two plates run against one another they create massive earthquakes.  The island of Papa New Guinea is scattered with earthquakes ranging from 5.0 to 7.5 and higher.  These earthquakes cause aftershock as well as the earthquake.  Aftershocks occur because the crust around the plate boundary is adjusting to the original shock, this can cause aftershocks, a smaller but still potent earthquake.  So it turns out that missing a putt because of an earthquake is a regularity in Timika, their town is dotted with earthquakes too!  The last earthquake that occurred in Timika was a 7.1 magnitude in April off this year.

 





http://www.friendlyforecast.com/earthquake/2012/08/6-2-mount-hagen-new-guinea-png-madang-earthquake-august-20-2012-at-08-41-50-am/neic_c000c350_s.jpg





 

Can you believe that all of those dots are earthquakes!