Posted on 04/12/2012 7:06:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Four large earthquakes struck around the Pacific Rim Wednesday with one setting a record, as the most powerful strike-slip quake ever recorded.
Geologists have nicknamed the Pacific Rim the “ring of fire” because of frequent volcanic and seismic activity.
The rash of earthquakes sent shock waves of concern across the globe.
Two giant quakes struck in Indonesia, one measuring a magnitude of 8.6. People were seen running in fear.
Closer to Southern California, two more earthquakes hit — a 6.5 in Mexico, where buildings rocked and shook, and a 5.9 off the Oregon coast.
Local scientists said that although the cluster of quakes may make us sit up and take notice, we should not be overly alarmed.
“One thing that happens when we have a lot of earthquakes in the news, everybody goes ‘Does that mean I’m going to have an earthquake?’ And the reality is it is essentially random and you haven’t changed your chance of having an earthquake,” said Lucy Jones of the USGS.
While most earthquakes are located along the ring of fire — an area along the basin of the Pacific Ocean — Jones said that Wednesday’s earthquakes were on entirely different plates.
“The ring of fire has no relationship at all to these earthquakes. The ring of fire is an old term before we understood plate tectonics,” she explained.
But scientists did say that the seismic activity was unusual. They said the two quakes in Indonesia were on strike-slip faults, the same type we have in California.
An 8.6 magnitude on a strike-slip had never been recorded before Wednesday’s, according to scientists.
“And now we have this 8.6 off of that interface out in the ocean floor and that’s really — I mean it’s shocking actually,” said Thomas Heaton with CALTECH.
The quakes on our continent did not do serious damage, but experts said that it was a reminder to always be prepared.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a typical day in California. We live in earthquake country and you’ve got to be ready,” Heaton said.
Dang...I need my glasses. Thought it said a “cluster of large Quakers.” Thought they were into prepping.
I think people of faith will see things those without the same faith will not see.
But my point is, how are earthquakes as we have seen as of late all that different from what has happened in the Christian era? We had some really bad 9+ earthquakes in the Fifties and Sixties, stronger than the Sumatra quake and the Japan quake. There was an estimated 9.0 in 1700 off the coast of Washington State that would be catastrophic if it happened again today.
If you look at a statistical analyis of the number of earthquakes as of late, it is not that far from a baseline of quakes plotted over the last 100 years. I would expect that, if a series of earthquakes were to actually be a harbinger of the Second Coming or of End Times, that they would truly be something extraordinary, in either frequency or strenght, compared to what has been seen in the Christian era instead of a frequency that could be explainable within the realm of natural variability and at maximum strength actually below earthquakes from fifty years ago.
One can have faith and still be able to evaluate statistics.
I wouldn’t. First, Mag 5 isn’t that strong. Second, that chart would have more meaning if it went back to 1950, as there were two massive earthquakes in the early sixties, and large earthquakes often trigger a lot of 5+ aftershocks, so we can’t tell if the increase in 5+ earthquakes on this chart is due to massive earthquakes triggering a lot of aftershocks over the last decade or if this represents something independent of aftershocks.
db, look with a ‘spirtual’ eye instead of with ‘man’s.
THAT is very cool...
And see what? I'm sorry, but spirituality does not require I look for extraordinary meaning in a sequence of natural events that are not that out of the ordinary. I'll save a sense of an impending Second Coming if I see earthquakes that truly are abnormal. What we have seen over the last decade is not abnormal.
Pop quiz - was the Sumatra earthquake of 2004 the strongest of the last 100 years?
Given your idea of a useful opinion is a bunch of conspiracy lunacy from the internet (Hey, look, there’s another Elenin youtube!), I’ll count my blessings that you are not contributing to this thread.
Largest earthquakes since the 1900's (USGS data, not too sure about their 3/11/2011 location though):
1/31/1906 9.5 Chile
11/11/1922 9.2 Prince William Sound, Alaska
2/3/1923 9.1 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra
2/1/1938 9 Near the East Coast of Honsho, Japan
8/15/1950 9 Kamchatka
11/4/1952 8.8 Offshore Maule, Chile
3/9/1957 8.8 Off the Coast of Ecuador
5/22/1960 8.7 Rat Islands, Alaska
10/13/1963 8.6 Northern Sumatra, Indonesia
3/28/1964 8.6 Assam - Tibet
2/4/1965 8.6 Off the west coast of northern Sumatra
12/26/2004 8.6 Andreanof Islands , Alaska
3/28/2005 8.5 Southern Sumatra, Indonesia
9/12/2007 8.5 Banda Sea, Indonesia
2/27/2010 8.5 Kamchatka
3/11/2011 8.5 Chile-Argentina Border
4/11/2012 8.5 Kuril Islands
See #32.
This should be 1960.
LOL, Ooops... I forgot to include the other data fields when I sorted the data using Excel...
Hang on...
1. Chile 1960 05 22 9.5
2. Prince William Sound, Alaska 1964 03 28 9.2
3. Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 12 26 9.1
4. Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan 2011 03 11 9.0
5. Kamchatka 1952 11 04 9.0
6. Offshore Maule, Chile 2010 02 27 8.8
7. Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 01 31 8.8
8. Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 02 04 8.7
9. Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 03 28 8.6
10. Assam - Tibet 1950 08 15 8.6
11. Andreanof Islands, Alaska 1957 03 09 8.6
12. Southern Sumatra, Indonesia 2007 09 12 8.5
13. Banda Sea, Indonesia 1938 02 01 8.5
14. Kamchatka 1923 02 03 8.5
15. Chile-Argentina Border 1922 11 11 8.5
16. Kuril Islands 1963 10 13 8.5
Two massive earthquakes within four years of each other in the early sixties. I don't see any indication of the Sumatra/Japan 9+ quakes occuring within a decade of each other being historical oddities as a result.
1/31/1906 8.8 Off the Coast of Ecuador
11/11/1922 8.5 Chile-Argentina Border
2/3/1923 8.5 Kamchatka
2/1/1938 8.5 Banda Sea
8/15/1950 8.6 Assam - Tibet
11/4/1952 9 Kamchatka
3/9/1957 8.6 Andreanof Islands
5/22/1960 9.5 Chile
10/13/1963 8.5 Kuril Islands
3/28/1964 9.2 Prince William Sound
2/4/1965 8.7 Rat Islands
12/26/2004 9.1 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra
3/28/2005 8.6 Northern Sumatra
9/12/2007 8.5 Southern Sumatra
2/27/2010 8.8 Offshore Maule
3/11/2011 9 Near the East Coast of Honshu
4/11/2012 8.6 Off the west coast of northern Sumatra
And if you look closer at the list, you see a significant lull from 1965 to 2004, nearly 40 years. Was there another such lull prior to 1950? That’s my point - 112 years is hardly a long enought baseline to gauge what is normal and abnormal regarding what we are seeing over the last eight years.
An 8.6 magnitude on a strike-slip had never been recorded before
di·verse
adjective
1. of a different kind, form, character
Hmmmm.
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