Ecotech Reveal Earthquake Statistics From a Live Blast Monitoring Site.

Ecotech captured unique details of the earthquake which struck Victoria at 8.53pm last night at one of their live blast monitoring sites.

After a magnitude 5.3 quake shook Gippsland and many parts of Victoria, there were 60 aftershocks, making it the largest quake in the state in over 100 years. “We recorded a maximum vibration of 6.69mm/sec for the main quake and also recorded several small aftershocks”, said Ashlea King, Business Specialist, Blast Monitoring.

A global leader in environmental monitoring, Ecotech has implemented open cut blast monitoring systems and services for many of the major mining companies across Australia.
The system consists of remote blast monitoring stations known as Dynamates which are continuously monitored by remote software at the Melbourne head office, Knoxfield. Results of the blast are then automatically collected and available to customers within minutes of the “event”. The company has installed over 100 systems in the last 18 months.

The waveform (or graph) which is available shortly after a blast, captures details of the overpressure using an airblast microphone, and ground vibration using a triaxial geophone. Customers can view results, produce reports and interact with software via a web browser anywhere or anytime – PC, mobile phone, car, home or office, regardless of geographical distance to the event site.

“We are constantly growing and diversifying our blast monitoring service so that we can continue to provide accurate and reliable data quickly and remotely”, said Nicholas Dal Sasso, Managing Director.
The system is useful because it provides near instantaneous notification of ground movements associated with earthquakes that may seriously impact on power plants, paper mills, train lines, gas transmission lines and other large public and private infrastructure such as power stations and tunnels. This knowledge of ground movement enables operators and owners to make better decisions on shutdown and or inspection requirements prior to incurring significant damage from undetected failures.