Earthquakes . . . Talk me down here . . .

[Richard D]

I was talking with a friend about earthquakes and he said that they've been increasing in frequency. I doubted that. He pointed this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_21st_century_earthquakes, and they have been dramatically increasing over the last decade.

Any ideas about this? Makes me almost a believer in 2012.

[Garbo 2004]

1. USGS: FAQs - Common Myths about Earthquakes

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?faqID=110

[hayu_lol]

2. The increase noted in earthquake frequency is due as much...

to increased instrumentation and media reporting methodology as it may be to actual increased frequency...something that needs to be realized.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Your friend's full of shit.

And your link doesn't work.

[zappaman]

4. why worry about earthquakes...

...when the sky is falling!

[Dappleganger]

5. Look outside, it's dark.

That must mean the sun has disappeared all over the world!

:sarcasm:

[XemaSab]

6. There have been more earthquakes in the last 10 years

than there have been at any time in this century!

Run for the hills! We're all going to die! :scared:

[TZ]

7. Oy vey

I'd worry if there were less quakes. Plate tectonics is normal and natural to this planet. And as people above stated it has to do with better reporting. By the way...want to offend someone with Mayan heritage? Mention 2012. Apparantly it's total bullshit.

[Synicus Maximus]

8. Although Wikipedia is not the best source this is fairly correct.

Minor earthquakes occur nearly constantly around the world in places like California and Alaska in the U.S., as well as in Guatemala. Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, the Azores in Portugal, Turkey, New Zealand, Greece, Italy, and Japan, but earthquakes can occur almost anywhere, including New York City, London, and Australia.<13> Larger earthquakes occur less frequently, the relationship being exponential; for example, roughly ten times as many earthquakes larger than magnitude 4 occur in a particular time period than earthquakes larger than magnitude 5. In the (low seismicity) United Kingdom, for example, it has been calculated that the average recurrences are: an earthquake of 3.7 - 4.6 every year, an earthquake of 4.7 - 5.5 every 10 years, and an earthquake of 5.6 or larger every 100 years.<14> This is an example of the Gutenberg-Richter law.
The Messina earthquake and tsunami took as many as 200,000 lives on December 28, 1908 in Sicily and Calabria.<15>

The number of seismic stations has increased from about 350 in 1931 to many thousands today. As a result, many more earthquakes are reported than in the past, but this is because of the vast improvement in instrumentation, rather than an increase in the number of earthquakes. The USGS estimates that, since 1900, there have been an average of 18 major earthquakes (magnitude 7.0-7.9) and one great earthquake (magnitude 8.0 or greater) per year, and that this average has been relatively stable.<16> In recent years, the number of major earthquakes per year has decreased, although this is thought likely to be a statistical fluctuation rather than a systematic trend. More detailed statistics on the size and frequency of earthquakes is available from the USGS.<17>

[Blue-Jay]

9. Yes, it's the end of the world

Can I have your stuff?

[Fuzz]

10. Jesus is coming back. Look busy.

[Xithras]

11. Random statistical fluctuations.

Earthquakes are random, and do not occur at a consistent pace. You're going to have periods with many quakes, and periods with fewer quakes. There's nothing unusual about it at all.

[Iggo]

12. THE BIG ONE'S COMING!!!!

Either today, or thousands and thousands of years from now, or something in-between.