What's with all the earthquakes??? (a list)

[Mugsy]

This earthquake on the California/Mexico border this morning is... what... the fifth big quake in recent memory???

I looked online for a list of all the major earthquakes we've seen lately but came up empty, so with a bit of research, I started my own. If I missed anything, please include it in the comments. I can't help but wonder if all this recent shifting of the Earth's crust might be connected to Global Warming. Anyway, here's my list:
------------------

Following the famed Boxing Day (December 26th) 2004 Sumatra-Andaman 9.1 earthquake and ensuring Tsunami, we have seen:
(quakes below 6.0 on the Richter Scale are too common include in this list unless an extreme aberration. Major quakes in bold.)

Kashmir, Pakistan: 7.6 on Oct 8, 2005
Ica, Peru: 8.8 on Aug 15, 2007
Sichuan, China: 7.9 on May 8, 2008
Northern Japan: 7.2 on June 14, 2008
Arequipa, Peru: 6.0 on July 8, 2008
Rhodes, Greece: 6.3 on July 15, 2008
Zhongba County, Tibet: 6.8 on Aug 25, 2008
Guatemala City, Mexico: 6.7 on Oct 16, 2008
Baluchistan, Pakistan: 6.4 on Oct 29, 2008
Sumatra, Indonesia: 6.7 on Nov 22, 2008
Charleston, SC: 3.6 on Dec 16, 2008
Mindanao, Philippines: 6.2 on Dec 25, 2008
San Jose, Costa Rica: 6.1 on Jan 8, 2009
Kuril Islands, Russia: 7.3 on Jan 15, 2009
Shetland Islands, Scotland: 3.3 on Jan 16, 2009
Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia: 6.8 on Jan 19, 2009
Rockaway, NJ: 3.0 on Feb 2, 2009
Sulawesi, Indonesia: 7.2 on Feb 11, 2009
Kermadec Islands, New Zealand: 6.8 on Feb 19, 2009
L'Aquila, Italy: 6.3 on Apr 5, 2009
Euless, Tx: 3.3 on May 16, 2009
Roatan, Honduras: 7.1 on May 28, 2009
Tuatapere, New Zealand: 7.8 on July 15, 2009
Santa Isabel, CA: 6.9 on Aug 3, 2009
Honshu, Japan: 7.1 on Aug 9, 2009
Andaman Islands, Indian Ocean: 7.8 on Aug 11, 2009
Ada, OK: 3.4 on Aug 27, 2009
Java, Indonesia: 7.0 on Sept 2, 2009
Oni, South Ossetia, Georgia: 6.2 on Sep 8, 2009
Bhutan, India: 6.3 on Sept 22, 2009
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: 6.4 on Sept 24, 2009
West Sumatra, Indonesia: 6.7 on Sept 30, 2009
Padang, Indonesia: 7.6 on Oct 1, 2009
Vanuatu Islands, South Pacific: 7.3 on Oct 8, 2009
Santiago, Chile: 6.5 on Nov 13, 2009
Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada: 6.5 on Nov 17, 2009
Auburn, Nebraska: 3.5 on Dec 17, 2009
Cape Girardeau, Missouri: 3.1 on Dec 18, 2009
Solomon Islands, Pacific: 7.2 on Jan 4, 2010
Eureka, California: 6.5 on Jan 9, 2010
Port-au-Prince, Haiti: 7.0 on Jan 12, 2010
Maule, Chile: 8.8 on Feb 27, 2010
Libertador O Higgins, Chile: 6.9 on Mar 11, 2010
Kepulauan Obi, Indonesia: 6.4 on Mar 14, 2010
Tonga, South Pacific: 7.9 on March 19, 2010
Baja, CA: 7.2 on Apr 4, 2010
Tijuana, Mexico: 7.2 on Apr 5, 2010

47 significant quakes since the Pakistan quake in late 2005.
--------------------

If I had included quakes between 5.0 and 5.9, this list would be twice as long. The publicized earthquake that hit Iran last year was only a 5.2.

[Lost4words]

1. Maybe God saw the video I just saw.

[spanone]

2. it's this place called earth....it's unstable...it's terminal...

[Aviation Pro]

29. Earth is not terminal....

...been around 4.5 billion years, probably will be around for another 3 - 4 billion years. Mankind, however, will probably be a short afterthought. Current scorecard:

Modern man: approximately 3 million years.
Dinosaurs: 185 million years.

[Cleita]

3. Seems to be coinciding with global warming and the melting of glaciers.

However, be prepared, the last time I tried to make that connection here in DU, I was drowned in a sea of scientific "knowledge" saying it couldn't be. However, some real scientists are looking into the coincidence.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. More than just a few are looking into that coincidence

:-)

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. I'd be hard pressed to find a melting glacier in Northern Baja whose weight shift could cause a

strike-slip earthquake.

Just sayin'.

[Cleita]

13. I guess you don't consider weather patterns global, things like

El Nino, that happens off the coast of Peru but affects our weather her on the coast in California, thousands of miles away, or tsunamis that hit Asia that start in America, you know things like that. Well tectonic plates shift too. Remember we had some horrid earthquakes in Chile, which is close to Antartictica and the earthquakes seem to be working their way up the Ring of Fire, which the west coast of the North American continent sits on.

[defendandprotect]

19. True . . .

and El Nino and La Nina are also part of Global Warming . . .

they were once only one in every 2,000 or 1,000 years . . .

now frequent!

[cherokeeprogressive]

25. Once every 1,000 - 2,000 years? Are you serious?

"ENSO (El Nino - Southern Oscillation) conditions have occurred at two- to seven year intervals for at least the past 300 years..."

When did they only occur once in every 1,000 - 2,000 years? Where do you get this stuff?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_nino#Cultural_history_and_pre-historic_information

[defendandprotect]

31. That's what I've read . . .and . . .

think that was probably in the book "The Heat is On!" . . .

If I can find my notes on it, I'll let you know --

Meanwhile --

As I understand it, these were once occurring only once in 1,000 or 2,000 years --

Their frequency began to increase thousands of years ago -- this is all I could

find on it right now.

HOWEVER, obviously many believe that the current rate of El Nino/La Nina frequency

is directly related to Global Warming --



Looking Forward By Looking Backward

Rosenstiel School scientists also excel in fusing climate research with archaeology in their award-winning paleoclimate research: Fossils of mollusks found at coastal sites in Peru have offered information about the history of El Niño events, as well as the cultural impacts they had on affected populations. El Niño events, in past periods, may have been less frequent than current events; Peru specifically has been an area heavily affected by these severe, temperature-dependent phenomena.

Peru’s prehistoric cultural development was also affected, it seems, by the onset of El Niño events. The construction of monumental temples was abandoned at the same time that El Niño events began to increase in frequency about 7,000 years ago.

Additionally, Rosenstiel School researchers are looking for ways to develop better climate prediction models for the future based on information they have gained, and continue to gain, about the past.


http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/res-sheets/el-nino.html


Needless to say, these are very complicated systems/distortions -- with immense influence over

the globe!


El Niño is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe.




Historical review on El Niño events

El Niño is not a new phenomenon, it has been around for thousands of years. Chemical signatures of warmer sea surface temperatures and increased rainfall caused by El Niño appear in coral specimens at least 4000 years old, but some researchers claim to have found coral records that hold evidence of El Niño cycles more than a 100,000 years ago!

The records of El Niño date back as far as the 1500s. At that time fisherman off the coast of Peru started noticing that periodic warm waters hold down their anchovy catch. But also peruvian farmers noticed that the warm waters lead to increased rainfall, transforming normally barren areas into fertile farmland.

In the period of 1700-1900 European sailors made sporadic attempts at documenting the phenomenon, hence scientists become interested in identifying it's cause.






5. Fishermen at Peru - the warm water during El Niño makes fishes avoid the Peruvian cost and is very bad for fishery
© downtheroad.org - Peru




Still, until the middle of the 20th century, little was known about conditions during El Niño years. Interest intensified in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and using new observations including satellite data, climatologists and oceanographers recognized that El Niño meant a whole lot more than just a local feature of climate variability. Only from that time were the major elements of this climate oscillation linked together.

http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/77d9810278d8243047762d9afac0ae3b,55a304092d09/192.html


That's all I can tell you for now, but next time I'm in the library I'll check the book --

"The Heat is On!" and see if I can find the reference there.

[cherokeeprogressive]

22. Hey thanks for the geography/climate lesson.

I've lived in So. Cal. 95% of my life. Been through all the big earthquakes of the last 40 years beginning with the Sylmar earthquake of '71 which was a 6.7. The Landers quake was a 7.3 and that happened 18 years ago. Northridge was over 16 years ago and was a 6.7.

I don't believe for a moment that melting glaciers thousands of miles away could cause strike-slip earthquakes in Southern California. By the way, I left out half a dozen eq's that were 6.1 or better and happened in the last 50 years.

[NashVegas]

4. Great Sex?

[Ohio Joe]

5. Perhaps not the best source but according to wiki...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake#Size_and_frequency_of_occurrence

From the Size and frequency of occurrence section:

"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>"

16 - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?categoryID=6&faqID=110

17 - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

[LeftyMom]

6. Plate tectonics.

Plates on the earth's crust move, causing earthquakes. You listed both earthquakes in areas where they are common and expected, mostly locations on the famed "ring of fire" along the Pacific rim, and extremely small earthquakes in places where they are uncommon but not unheard of. Neither is any great surprise or evidence of a new trend.

[Oregone]

8. End of the world

Good riddance. I tire of this place

[katty]

9. the plates are moving/shifting

[Xithras]

10. Earthquakes along faultlines are perfectly normal

This came up after the Chile quake, and some helpful DUer posted some charts showing recorded earthquake activity over the decades. Quake activity is no higher now than it's ever been.

The only difference is the expansion of satellite media over the past 20 years. A few decades ago, only the biggest quakes were reported in the American media. Thanks to the 24 hour news cycle, the Internet, and the expansion of realtime global satellite broadcasting from even the remote locations, EVERY sizeable earthquake gets reported.

The Earth is a living, breathing, moving thing, and we're just along for the ride.

[Mugsy]

15. I don't remember this many major quakes so close together...

...in such a short period of time.

TV News isn't exactly a recent development since 2004.

[Cleita]

17. True.

I have lived all my seventy years along the Pacific Coast of both American continents and although I have experience many earthquakes in that time and those places, none have been that close together, often years apart, and any quake of a magnitude more than 6 was very rare.

[Xithras]

21. Because they didn't used to be reported the way they are now.

20 years ago, an 6+ earthquake in central America that killed 50 people MIGHT have received a single 30 second mention on a single evenings news. If you went out for dinner that night, you'd forget about it. Even if you didn't, the odds are good that you'd forget about it anyway. Now it would be a headline for days, with cameramen beaming realtime footage into your home on any of the permanent news channels. You'd see tons of footage that the locals shot with their cameraphones, digital cameras, and security cameras (things that either didn't exist or were very uncommon in the poorer world 20 years ago), and the footage would be played over and over until the next big story came along. In many ways, it's like kidnapping. To judge by the screaming headlines on CNN and Faux, you'd think that a kid was being kidnapped every 5 minutes and that America was a far more dangerous place than it used to be. The reality of the statistics, however, demonstrates that the per-capita child kidnapping rate is about the same today as it was 40 years ago. Only reporting, and therefore perceptions, have changed.

In cognitive terms, it's called the Von Restorff effect. The more something sticks out, the more likely you are to remember it. Because of the change in reporting, quakes today stick out more and are therefore easier to remember.

It doesn't change a simple reality though:



Earthquakes are no more or less common, variable, and unpredictable today than at any point in the past. As as for the theory about global warming causing them?

Global warming doesn't impact earthquakes one way or the other.

[cherokeeprogressive]

27. In the '90s alone there were 11 earthquakes of 6.5 or better in California. 5 over 7.0

1980's 10 of 6.5 or better including a 7.4.

Take a look at the list of 6.5's or better in CA since 1800

http://www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs/rghm/quakes/Pages/eq_chron.aspx

[conscious evolution]

30. The need for distractions is what has changed lately.

That and a little fear mongering for the left behind crowd.

[slackmaster]

11. Our planet is seismically active, as it has been for billions of years

Nothing to see here.

[MineralMan]

14. Looks like about a normal distribution of quakes in that size range.

Perhaps extending your memory a little farther back will be instructive. All the records are available, so you could look back in time and discover that things are well in the normal frequency range.

[damntexdem]

16. Obviously Obama's fault. I mean, it can't still be Bill Clinton's fault, can it?

But maybe it's science's fault -- ever since geology invented tectonic plates, we've been really shaky.

;-)

[defendandprotect]

18. Global Warming will increase earthquakes . . . as noted by Pentagon in a memo to Bush . . .

where they stated also that Global Warming is a more serious threat to the nation

than "terraism."

The current Pentago memo has been scrubbed of the info on "earthquakes" -- but it was

there . . .

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. These earthquakes are being caused by the increase in autism.

Due no doubt to Donald Rumsfeld's HFCS.

[nickinSTL]

23. while that's an interesting list

it doesn't prove anything.

It just shows that there have been a number of earthquakes in the last 6 years.

Show me the number of earthquakes for a few random 6-year spans to compare. Otherwise, it's just a list.

[Codeine]

24. . . .

[951-Riverside]

26. The US and Russian governments are setting off subterranean nukes near fault lines

Most of these nukes were placed underground years ago so they've remained dormant. The reason why these two governments are doing this is because they want to control and weaponize quakes. :sarcasm: :eyes:







Yes, I'm being sarcastic.

[cherokeeprogressive]

28. Dr. Merkwürdigliebe said as much way back in the '60's. n/t