This comment got me wondering, so i did a little digging. I found an article that mentioned the shock waves produced recently by the North Korean nuclear tests. From what i can find, their first test back in 2006 was about a 1 kt blast that produced a magnitude 4.3 shock wave. Considering that there have been documented military (conventional) explosions consuming over 4000 tons of explosives, I'd say you could probably expect to be able to get a 4.3 or even a 4.9 with a conventional explosion, but not much more.
1kt = 1000 tons of TNT. Depending on how close the seismic sensors were would depend on on the reading. Bringing a 1000 tons of anything onto an island would be a huge pain in the ass. A SADM (SPecial Atomic Demolition Munition) has dial-a-yields (1-5kt) and could be optimized for the on-ground conditions. It also weighs under 100 lbs. Detonation in the underground tunnels would contain the radiation. It would also collapse all the subterranean tunnels and likely destabilize the ground above, causing massive building collapse. Bigger buildings may have required booster charges to topple.
view the rest of the comments →
Blacksmith21 ago
The earthquake was real. I got an alert. I'm wondering if the White Hats set off a thermobaric or small nuke charge underground.
InnocentAngels ago
Destroying those tunnels using explosives maybe?
Blacksmith21 ago
That's what I'm thinking. But to register a 4.9 (I saw it as a 4.3) would take something nuke sized. That's a LOT of conventional explosives.
tippyc ago
This comment got me wondering, so i did a little digging. I found an article that mentioned the shock waves produced recently by the North Korean nuclear tests. From what i can find, their first test back in 2006 was about a 1 kt blast that produced a magnitude 4.3 shock wave. Considering that there have been documented military (conventional) explosions consuming over 4000 tons of explosives, I'd say you could probably expect to be able to get a 4.3 or even a 4.9 with a conventional explosion, but not much more.
Blacksmith21 ago
1kt = 1000 tons of TNT. Depending on how close the seismic sensors were would depend on on the reading. Bringing a 1000 tons of anything onto an island would be a huge pain in the ass. A SADM (SPecial Atomic Demolition Munition) has dial-a-yields (1-5kt) and could be optimized for the on-ground conditions. It also weighs under 100 lbs. Detonation in the underground tunnels would contain the radiation. It would also collapse all the subterranean tunnels and likely destabilize the ground above, causing massive building collapse. Bigger buildings may have required booster charges to topple.
tippyc ago
The seismic readings are adjusted for distance. Each separate sensor gets a different size wave and they extrapolate the source magnitude.
Blacksmith21 ago
Triangulation and Doppler. I get it.