When a magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook Olympia, Wash., in 2001, shop owner Jason Ward discovered that a sand-tracing pendulum had recorded the vibrations in the image above.

Seismologists say that the “flower” at the center reflects the higher-frequency waves that arrived first; the outer, larger-amplitude oscillations record the lower-frequency waves that arrived later.

“You never think about an earthquake as being artistic — it’s violent and destructive,” Norman MacLeod, president of Gaelic Wolf Consulting in Port Townsend, told ABC News. “But in the middle of all that chaos, this fine, delicate artwork was created.”

1. extree-extree reblogged this from lifeinatimeofcrisis
2. elemeno-pie reblogged this from kath601
3. elemeno-pie likes this
4. poppadeen71 reblogged this from dropdead-r-e-d and added:

   wow

5. poppadeen71 likes this
6. gimmekimchi likes this
7. minusbacon reblogged this from taylorswiftsleftnipple
8. rdelirious likes this
9. did-ya-misha-me reblogged this from taylorswiftsleftnipple
10. kaylakhaos666 reblogged this from dropdead-r-e-d
11. thepapernavy reblogged this from ceruleancitysfinest
12. thepapernavy likes this
13. taylorswiftsleftnipple reblogged this from dropdead-r-e-d
14. ghost79 reblogged this from dropdead-r-e-d
15. ceruleancitysfinest reblogged this from dropdead-r-e-d
16. dropdead-r-e-d reblogged this from serendipitous-truth
17. serendipitous-truth reblogged this from desperadodaniel and added:

    Its beautiful

18. jayecho reblogged this from doctordachs
19. x-crash likes this
20. bethsporrer reblogged this from welcome-to-locas
21. welcome-to-locas reblogged this from freyjas
22. unicornziva reblogged this from dorcasedai
23. dorcasedai reblogged this from protosaber363
24. protosaber363 reblogged this from flamedanser
25. flamedanser reblogged this from daftedly
26. jenniestuck likes this
27. twilightfrontier reblogged this from furaigons
28. lightandscreen likes this
29. the-devils--are-here likes this
30. skanks-for-nothing likes this
31. yourbrainonska likes this
32. t-h-o-u-g-h-t-and-f-l-o-w reblogged this from slittingwrists
33. t-h-o-u-g-h-t-and-f-l-o-w likes this
34. little-blond-enigma reblogged this from slittingwrists
35. slittingwrists reblogged this from a-workinprogress
36. tarkwyn likes this
37. velocesmells likes this
38. a-workinprogress reblogged this from eyeman17
39. pastelpancake reblogged this from furaigons
40. eyeman17 reblogged this from bloodazure
41. kuuron reblogged this from furaigons
42. kuuron likes this
43. soulmercado reblogged this from furaigons
44. soulmercado likes this
45. deadbeatmarkers reblogged this from thetommohawk
46. cherucheru reblogged this from furaigons
47. aestheticazure reblogged this from furaigons
48. creepishlyobsessive reblogged this from zen-zen-daijoubunai
49. tokikurp reblogged this from zen-zen-daijoubunai
50. tokikurp likes this
51. Show more notesLoading...