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To: BenLurkin

Not really. A while back on a history channel show about engineering disasters they ran a segment about an earthquake and dam break in California.

Eventually it was determined that water from the lake behind the dam had seeped into a minor fault and the hydrostatic (?) pressure had cause the fault to slip leading to the dam break.

As you know, water is heavy. The canadian sheild is still rebounding from the weight of the last glaciers to cover the region.


12 posted on 02/02/2009 4:52:51 PM PST by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: cripplecreek

Yes and there is an ongoing problem in the east of the Indonesian island of Java where a “mud volcano” has erupted. It started two years ago and hasn’t stopped (Google “Sidoarjo”) and has now covered many square miles and is really devastating the area. There was drilling work going on at the time by an oil company and they have pretty much been universally blamed for the problem, they say however that their work was not the cause as the eruption occurred a little distance away from their borehole and the cause might be related to a nearby earthquake around the same time.

For most people it has been accepted that the drilling was the cause of the eruption and have refused to accept that it could have occurred naturally and that would appear to have been an end to it. However only last week in another spot in Indonesia hundreds of miles away on a separate island another “mud volcano” has erupted, no drilling was going on nearby. Not unnaturally the much maligned drilling company is pointing to that and saying “See?”.

So it’s hard to say definitely whether man made events can cause these tectonic problems.


19 posted on 02/02/2009 5:29:13 PM PST by PotatoHeadMick
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To: cripplecreek

The water pressure might have added hydrostatic pressure, but the fault actions are generally due more to shear stresses than hydrostatic stresses. The water might have changed some material properties of the rock at critical strain points, but is unlikely to have caused the ruptures.


24 posted on 02/02/2009 6:59:40 PM PST by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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