[decimon]

Crystal blew persuasion ping.

[Elsiejay]

How would that relate to the huge overthrust in western U.S./Canada, a whole mtn range uplifted and thrust over the underlying rock?

[ponygirl]

The question is.... what did the crystal skulls say?

[JmyBryan]

Quartz is an indicator for gold.

[23 Everest]

Heard some moron on the John & Ken radio show in LA saying he could predict quakes by the number of pets that run away.

I was wondering how he tracked that and why would it only be domestic pets, not all animals?

[wideminded]

a discovery that may aid in predicting tremblers

It should be "tremblers", but I think the correct word is "temblors".

[Ron C.]

I think they're nuts. Yes, quartz is easily fractured, but once it is, it seldom reforms into more pure quartz in great amounts, because the norm is that after fracture other materials mix with the debris from the original quartz fracture.

I've picked up many a rock from deep caves that have quartz mixed with other material that is less hard. It certainly got that way from being in heat high enough to make it molten - as was the material it was mixed with.

But no process I know of would make quartz in molten state separate from other material and become a predominate layer that would explain earthquakes - simply because quartz is among the least materials found at great depth in any of the great open-pit mines around the world. (I've been to several, as a visiting 'rock hound' - begging for 'finds.')

Quartz has a hardness of 9 - just below that of diamond, but it can be shattered just like glass, with great enough pressure. (So can diamonds) But, before I believe all quakes are caused by the presence of quartz, I'd like to see a great deal more of it in the deep mines around the earth - because there just isn't that much that I've seen.

Tectonic plates subverting under another plate causes movement, simply because at 20 miles down, all material becomes molten - allowing that movement. Sorry, quartz just ain't IT when it comes to earthquakes, IMHO.

[PENANCE]

Is plate tectonics not allowed?

[McCloud-Strife]

To all you future historians out there, Quartz is also the key to warp technology ;-) Engage!

[rfp1234]

Hmmmm...at first glance it looks like a circumstantial case. Quartz is a common mineral. It's everywhere. Most beach sand is dominated by quartz.

Quartz is indeed weaker and more easily deformed than surrounding minerals and is also one of the later stage minerals to crystallize from magma. But it's a chicken vs. egg thing. Do cracks in the earth form in zones where the quartz is or does the quartz, along with the rest of the magma, just take advantage of preexisting cracks to sneak through?

I shall just wait to read the actual paper. But it's a good distraction from all the recent horrors.

[Mike Darancette]

Using newly developed remote sensing technology known as Earthscope, Lowry and Perez-Gussinye found that quartz indicates a weakness in the earth's crust likely to spawn a geologic event such as an earthquake or a volcano.

Lots of quartz off the coast of Japan?