Norris Junction Helicorder Activity

http://www.seis.utah.edu/helicorder/ynr_webi_6d.htm ^

[winoneforthegipper]

yeah...I would not attribute this main quake as a aftershock of the big one last year.

Looks like a seperate event.

The depth though is holding suggesting that this is a true subduction event that is ongoing.

[Errant]

My thinking too and that plate movement is picking up around the planet.

[winoneforthegipper]

Yep yep....

oh by the way u might be interested in this report that the USGS released yesterday quite interesting.

http://100pct.us/zine/science_v1/usgs-release-new-evidence-shows-power-of/303871763059776a6143335669736331575159424a513d3d

Seems last year’s Virginia quake was the most felt ever...cool stuff!

[winoneforthegipper]

Take a look at the southeast from Texas to Carolina...

All small quakes but it’s kinda odd...

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/

[Errant]

Seems last year’s Virginia quake was the most felt ever...cool stuff! Interesting, thanks! I've been looking at quakes within continental plates. It seems to me, where these occur, could be along ancient fault lines, those occurring in northern China are a great example.

[Errant]

All small quakes but it’s kinda odd...

Yes, kinda makes one wonder if these are somehow connected. Many are occurring at similar depths. Perhaps we have some particular strata involved? Like bending a piece of thin plywood, the first cracking occurs in the layer least able to take the tension.

[winoneforthegipper]

yah...I have gotten away from the ancient fault concept and now more or less believe active stress loading caused by contintental drift.

This is my crude mental picture...for the North American Plate.

Imagine a fulcrum under the plate midsection....now at the western reaches of the plate the Pacific is subducting under it. So what happens when that western portion becomes less brittle and is pretty stout to withstand increasing pressure?

What happens to the eastside of that Fulcrum?

So you point is pretty close to what I am thinking...lol

[Errant]

What happens to the eastside of that Fulcrum?

It's going to react in some fashion to the increasing stress. Likely showing itself in certain strata formations initially until an area (line of weakness) least able to resist the forces involved is established, IMO. ;)

I'll tell you something that I keep thinking about. That is the possibility that plates on occasion crash about quite rapidly, including traveling over any "fulcrum(s)" that might exist underneath. For one thing, It would better explain how a large plate could come to rest underneath another, still intact; and for another, how subduction begins in the first place.

I think our world is much more dynamic than we've ever dreamed and I think on occasion, time frames required for major geological events to occur are relatively short indeed! :)

[winoneforthegipper]

Agreeed.

I was watching a show on one of the history channels that showed a glacier that melted but right near the edge was almost entirely preserved moss and fauna. That was rapid change from almost 6 thousand years ago. I would assume that we have much learn about natural processes which would include plate tectonics.

Anyways the Farallon makes for an excellent fulcrum and like I said there is no reason that plate subduction and general collision stress would not transfer across the entire plate.

Also we have known for years that the eastern half of the North American plate is sinking...this sinking though slowed over the last few thousand years also undoubtedly would produce stress along a point or fracture zone.

Certainly we may indeed be seeing a rift develop right before our eyes.