Earthquakes 2018

[canetoad]

Thought I'd throw this out there in view of elleng's post about the Delaware earthquake.


Upsurge in big earthquakes predicted for 2018 as Earth rotation slows

Scientists say number of severe quakes is likely to rise strongly next year because of a periodic slowing of the Earth’s rotation

Scientists have warned there could be a big increase in numbers of devastating earthquakes around the world next year. They believe variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation could trigger intense seismic activity, particularly in heavily populated tropical regions.

Although such fluctuations in rotation are small – changing the length of the day by a millisecond – they could still be implicated in the release of vast amounts of underground energy, it is argued.

The link between Earth’s rotation and seismic activity was highlighted last month in a paper by Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado in Boulder and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana in Missoula presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.

“The correlation between Earth’s rotation and earthquake activity is strong and suggests there is going to be an increase in numbers of intense earthquakes next year,” Bilham told the Observer last week.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/18/2018-set-to-be-year-of-big-earthquakes

[yuiyoshida]

1. I don't believe in Earthquake predictions

In San Francisco the first great earthquake was in 1906. The last big one was in 1989. That's a long time between big ones although earthquakes happen every day in California..Just look at this week!


They say its the little ones that keep the big ones from happening often. As the earth crust moves, and the plates rub together, little shakers happen. They relieve the pressure from building up, so it seems. No one has ever predicted an earthquake. Its different with Volcanos.. but earthquakes could happen any time and in any size.

[canetoad]

3. Yeah, but...

Seventy-odd years is a trumpteenth of a second on the geological scale. And we have no way of knowing precisely how frequently 'big ones' happened before the invention of seismic monitoring equipment.

The San Andreas fault on the West Coast is not exactly linked with volcanoes because it is a fault that slides longitudinally - the plates want to go roughly north and south which results in the occasional big jump.

Subduction faults, where one tectonic plate is shoved against and slides underneath its neighbour often have volcanoes around the edge ie The Ring of Fire (Pacific Rim).

[MontanaMama]

2. Interesting article.

Thanks for posting it. For folks that like to monitor seismic activity around the globe, there's an app called Earthquake 3D that's great. It gives you almost real time info of all kinds about each earthquake right after it happens anywhere on the planet. Get it on the App Store...there's a free one and one without ads for a couple of bucks. When we had a big earthquake here in Missoula last summer, I reached for the iPad right after it happened and got all the particulars. Not looking forward to more earthquakes however.