2010: The year of the big earthquakes!

[12voltman59]

The year 2010 is just getting rolling pretty good and we have had a number of pretty big earthquakes around the world now---first was Haiti, then in Chile, they had the big one the other day in northern Mexico and yesterday a pretty big one in Indonesia--I hope these ground shakers are just isolated instances that are not connected and are not part of some bigger and badder pattern that is emerging!!

I'd be a bit concerned if I lived on the west coast of the US and Canada.

It also seems to not be a good year to be a coal miner with the two big incidents in the mines in China and in West "by God!" Virginia.

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

The kids and I were talking about this the other day, and have been tracking the quakes on an atlas map. You can almost see where the Tectonic plates are shifting at, and they were concerned that Calif was going to be hit, then travel up here as well, and everyday we look to see where the quakes have advanced to.
Well, Calexico and San Fransicso got hit. Calexico got hit pretty good, Frisco wasnt hit very hard. There's a Geological site that you can go to and check out quakes in your particular area. Just google it and you'll come up with one.
The kids have formed a "Preparded kit" for their homes now, and its not a bad idea to be ready...just in case; for you just never know when you're going to need some extra water and food stuffs in case something does happen.

One little girl explained it thusly: "Well what can you expect? Humans are covering Mother Earth with concrete and so much weight that Mother Earth cant breathe properly and has to shift around now, and stretch. All that weight of concrete, buildings, a gazillios cars and machines pressing down on her...its squishing her and she's retailiating" lol
This from the mind of a handicapped teenager....:}
God speed and Spirits bless to those who endured the quakes, and condolences to those who lost friends and families in the mines, but being underground right now isnt the best place to be. :(
Sad Cat

[TwylaTwobits]

Yeah, here we have the New Madrid fault line that Dr. Iben Browning long ago predicted was due a big one. Last time a big one hit there, Reelfoot Lake was created because the Mississippi River ran backwards. There weren't as many people in Kentucky back then, now if it happened it would be destruction on a mass scale. No buildings here are "quake proof" and police recommend keeping at least five days worth of food and water because a lot of the connecting roadways can come down and it will be that long before anyone could reach people out in the rural areas.

Being prepared is one thing when you live in areas where earthquakes are common, but trying to be prepared when nothing has happened in your lifetime or your parents lifetime or your grandparents lifetime....it's like trying to teach a tone deaf man to sing.

[fredtyg]

It does seem like an awful lot of bigger quakes recently. We had a pretty good one here (6.5 Eureka, CA) just a bit before that one hit Haiti. I read somewhere recently that there really haven't been all that many more big ones than normal. It just seems that way.

Regardless, they scare the hell out of me and I've lived here in earthquake country for over 35 years. You never get used to them.

[Canticle]

There is a big one on the way.

[Hephaestion]

Cherokee MountainCat
"....One little girl explained it thusly: "Well what can you expect? Humans are covering Mother Earth with concrete and so much weight that Mother Earth cant breathe properly and has to shift around now, and stretch. All that weight of concrete, buildings, a gazillios cars and machines pressing down on her...its squishing her and she's retailiating" lol
This from the mind of a handicapped teenager....:} ...."


Interesting one Cat. No believable/disbelivable rating assigned here. However, NW Europe is taken to be still rising from the weight of the ice sheets of the last proper ice age (cf mini ice ages = cold spells). Concentrations of high rise buildings could be concentrating their weight like stilleto heels on lineoleum

Earthquakes are not to be taken as unusual in that they are part and parcel of plate tectonics and they will continue and vary in size. What is a surprise is that the period of small frequent movements as the plates adjust to each other seems to be over for now. Rather that the plates have reached pronounced sticking points and that when the forces overcome these, there are sizeable movements.

There is a comfortable theory which predicts earthquakes spreading from an area of high deformation pressure along lines of weakness, a bit like a zipper. This originated with the observations made of quakes originating from the Himalaya foothills westward towards Turkey and the Mediterranean. In the Meditarranean the African European plate interaction interferes. The victim in the long run will be Greece which is destined to be submerged as Europe splits northwards towards the Baltic

Could it be that the period of underground atomic testing was able to release the tectonic pressures as a side effect? The Yellowstone caldera is now overdue its periodic outbreak although there is now detectable increasing deformation in the terrain.

[TwylaTwobits]

The Yellowstone Caldera scares the hell out of me. I saw that special they did about what if it erupts. They liken it to the effect of the last supervolcano explosion way back in the primordial times.

[FalconAngel]

In the early 1800's there was a series of Earthquakes in the midwest (epicenter in southern Arkansas), that lasted for an entire moth.

Based on the reports, since there was no way for them to measure them at that time, it is estimated as ranging from 3.2R - 8.5R.

At one point, the quakes had gotten so bad that one quake had caused the Mississippi to flow backwards.

[darkeyes]

The Yellowstone Caldera scares the hell out of me. I saw that special they did about what if it erupts. They liken it to the effect of the last supervolcano explosion way back in the primordial times.

When it does go.. it'll put paid to any arguments on climate change and global warming Twyla.. and it will certainly put an end to human overpopulation for a while at least.. and its not the only caldera which exists.. isnt that a cheery thought?

[TwylaTwobits]

True enough, Fran. Interestingly enough the study was funded by the British because if the projections are correct, your country will suffer just as much as my country and the effects will be worldwide.

[Long Duck Dong]

I live about 50 metres from the pacific plate fault line in nz.... and if a mother of a earthquake hits.... you can do two things.....
shake rattle and roll...... or drop curl up and pray like hell....

either way, we get hit with a 8.0 ..... it will be the best sex of my life, cos I will be well and truly fucked

[TwylaTwobits]

LMAO Babe........gee thanks I'm coming to live with you on an island when I can't swim, that has volcanoes and common earthquakes.....

I remember feeling that earthquake when I was there, shook the whole house and that woke me up when it shook the bed, but that wasn't from the closest fault line to you.

Oh well at least if it happens after I get there we'll go together to the next life.

[fredtyg]

Just bumped into this CNN story (http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/04/07/earthquake.frequency/index.html?hpt=Sbin) on the frequency of earthquakes:

[darkeyes]

I live about 50 metres from the pacific plate fault line in nz.... and if a mother of a earthquake hits.... you can do two things.....
shake rattle and roll...... or drop curl up and pray like hell....

either way, we get hit with a 8.0 ..... it will be the best sex of my life, cos I will be well and truly fucked

..th earth moves for me that way every time we hav our little bitta fun Duckie... an thats as it shud b..:tong:

[12voltman59]

I am sure that as the story said that fred posted the link to--it just seems to us that the earhquakes are badder and more frequent than normal----the thing is with earthquakes--if we did not have a planet that is geologically "alive" to have things like earthquakes---we would not be here to be affected by them.

The same goes for storms like thunderstoms, tornadoes and hurricanes. Without weather (good and bad by human terms) that spawn those storms----we wouldn't be around either!!

[bicurcple]

Just bumped into this CNN story (http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/04/07/earthquake.frequency/index.html?hpt=Sbin) on the frequency of earthquakes:

Not trying to start any conspiracy theories but I do not believe any governments would actually say anything if they were indeed worried about it. Imagine the pandemonium it would cause..........if people thought there was a major disaster coming there are those who would stop going to work, there are those who would panic and start hoarding food, fuel, guns, and other resources and there are those who would rob, rape and kill. These are just my personal beliefs(the male half). I just personnally believe world leaders know how crazy things would get if people knew a major disater was coming.

[Aristede]

In the past, when I saw reports of earthquakes and the devestation they caused, my heart went out to those affected. Living in Chicago, we all thought we couldn't get hit by earthquakes. Yet a few months ago, a very slight earthquake did strike 50 miles from Chicago. So this can be a real threat, even to those in the Midwest. Wherever the tectonic plates are moving and colliding, an earthquake can and will more than likely result.

My heart definitely goes out to those in Haiti, Chile, Indonesia, Baja California and Baja Mexico who are victims of earthquakes; and also to the coal miners... God bless 'em.

[12voltman59]

Since my last post on here---a remote region of China had another major earthquake that destroyed a number of places and killed or injured a number of people----and now we have that volcano in Iceland spewing stuff---and they say that the eruption of this volcano might be going to cause a nearby volcano to erupt too since magma from one is very likely working its way the other one--filling the chambers below that one tilll it blows.

So far in this new year----it is sure the year of the shaking, quaking ground!!

[AdamKadmon43]

The Yellowstone Caldera scares the hell out of me. I saw that special they did about what if it erupts. They liken it to the effect of the last supervolcano explosion way back in the primordial times.

And rightly it should scare the hell out of you.

That particular "hot spot" is one of the best concentrations of granitic magma... the most thick, viscous and destructive magma ..... that exists on the planet. The magma dome seems to presently be about 8 miles beneath the surface, but geologists suspect that it is rising because Lake Yellowstone is tilting. It will probably let loose anytime between right now and a thousand years from right now.

The last time it erupted was about 600,000 years ago... And it produced so much volcanic ash that life in the northern hemisphere of the planet was pretty much totally disrupted for centuries.

So don't get too overly concerned about the global climate being anthropogenic and don't worry too much about being "green" and all that bunch of crap..... We do not have nearly the impact on this planet that we think we do. Momma Nature can outdo us anytime she wants to.

I hope this does not mess up your plans for the picnic and camping trip.

[Hephaestion]

AdamKadmon43

"...So don't get too overly concerned about the global climate being anthropogenic and don't worry too much about being "green" and all that bunch of crap....."

As you said

"...anytime between now and 1000 yrs time.."

Planning for 1000 might be a better idea than giving up now. There is of course the situation where the magma chamber beneath the Yellostone caldera vents partially and so the anticipated global catstrophic eruptions do not occur (i.e. on such a scale). This is what has been detected to have happened in the past. However, it is taken that the 600,000 year interval is that for huge eruptions.

Voltie

The CNN article said that the latest quakes were occurring nearer population centres rather than increasing in strength and so were more noticeable. If the population centres are both increasing in size and frequency then there is a problem for 'mankind' in their vicinity.

As regards the Icelandic volcanoes, the opinion was that the volcanoes shared the same magma chamber. Whether there is sufficient 'pressure' to induce major activity of two major vents remains to be seen. There is a 'resonance' between a minor vent and a major vent, one seeming to tickle the other into activity. Perhaps that is what you were referring to?

The entire situation has been predicable as notified by the appearance of Surtsey in the 1960's. The scientists have been concerned yet the the politicians and economists have been nothing short of complacent. The trouble has been that the eruptions have taken place at a time when the expected southwesterly winds have dropped off and have been replaced by persistent (and colder ones form the NW).

We have an incipient problem with the current cessation of air traffic and that is resource supply vs population density. My old hobby horse of which is that the UK is overpopulated for its resources.

Commiserations to the stranded but the peace and quiet is pleasant. However, in the evenings as the cold air descends and in my sensitised state I can smell ash over an area of 20 sq miles - not from bonfires. It makes a change from aircraft fuel. Supposedly it is not prominent enough to cause injury to health but people have noted dust on things like cars.

Perhaps others from the UK can report whether the have the same experience as Londoners. The expectation is that people near the coast will not?


Apologies to Alfred Tennyson

....Radioactive clouds to right of them,
Abrasive Ash to left of them,
No fish in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Wandered the sixty? million...

[darkeyes]

Know me mum an dad r less than happy Heph.. they wer sposed 2 fly 2 Cyprus this mornin... long mizzy faces ther...

..we don zactly live on the flight path for Edinburgh airport but is nice lookin at skies wivout vapour trails wich don haff sumtimes cause dimmin a the sun wen ther r no natural clouds up ther.. an make it worse wen ther r... me m8 livs bout a mile from the airport an she sez its luffly... isn scarin the poop outa 'er lil doggie ne way.. only aircraft that seem 2 b 'bout r lite planes from small airfields so am assumin they not affected...

An on Adam's point..the world is such an unpredictable place even the safest parts a the world r owt but safe.. wereva we liv ther r natural dangers wich will kill or maim 1..or kill an maim thousands.. add 2 that man made dangers... health dangers (wich can b either man made or natural can they not?) wich can do the same an r equally unpredictable.. it becums pointless frettin bout wot mite happen.. we liv for 2 day.. plan for 2moz an b as optimistic as we can.. it mite nev happen 2 ne or all.. least not in our lifetimes.. but we shud an havta keep oursels aware a jus wot is out ther... complacency cud b the condemnation of us all..

[foreverbi]

The kids and I were talking about this the other day, and have been tracking the quakes on an atlas map. You can almost see where the Tectonic plates are shifting at, and they were concerned that Calif was going to be hit, then travel up here as well, and everyday we look to see where the quakes have advanced to.
Well, Calexico and San Fransicso got hit. Calexico got hit pretty good, Frisco wasnt hit very hard. There's a Geological site that you can go to and check out quakes in your particular area. Just google it and you'll come up with one.
The kids have formed a "Preparded kit" for their homes now, and its not a bad idea to be ready...just in case; for you just never know when you're going to need some extra water and food stuffs in case something does happen.

One little girl explained it thusly: "Well what can you expect? Humans are covering Mother Earth with concrete and so much weight that Mother Earth cant breathe properly and has to shift around now, and stretch. All that weight of concrete, buildings, a gazillios cars and machines pressing down on her...its squishing her and she's retailiating" lol
This from the mind of a handicapped teenager....:}
God speed and Spirits bless to those who endured the quakes, and condolences to those who lost friends and families in the mines, but being underground right now isnt the best place to be. :(
Sad Cat

Wasn't the weight already on the Earth? The weight is just made into another form, after all a pound of feathurs weighs the same as a pound of gold.

[Hephaestion]

Wasn't the weight already on the Earth? The weight is just made into another form, after all a pound of feathurs weighs the same as a pound of gold.

The distirbution of the mass (weight is mass attraction) is what has changed with built up areas and the ever popular high rise.

With a flat shoe, linoleoum / vinyl flooring is able to withstand a woman's step, but with a stilleto heel the surface is punctured. So with your pound of feathers they would be more widely distributed because of their shape while the gold would be more 'concentrated'.

[rdy2go]

Earthquakes, volcanoes, and wars... Oh my. The apocolypse is nigh! Or at the very least Mother Earth is fighting back!

[Hephaestion]

Hephaestion

"...Perhaps others from the UK can report whether the have the same experience as Londoners. The expectation is that people near the coast will not?..."

Looked at the Met(eorological Office) maps as well as NOAA et alia and saw that two places had really high density clouds of Ash. These were roughly Scotland and curiously SE England covering Heathrow from a swirl in the air flow.

The smell of ash abated for a day or so and then the flights re-started. However, for the past two nights that smell has re-appeared and coincides with reported resumed activity of the volcanoe(s) (purportedly the clouds restricted to lower altitudes). So I decided to travel to the coast in the early hours of the morning to make sure that it was not a local event - 85 miles away and the smell was still there. The airforce has just grounded some of its Typhoon jets showing ash 'damage'? or would it be fairer to say 'accumulation' - but 'this will not affect civil flights'. Trade via air transport has resumed.

There was no fresh food shortage according to government sources but the radio programmes told of shop keepers reporting supply problems. Local supermarket shelves were emptied (refill laxity, supply problems, or idiotic panic buying?). EU airlines have been squealing; Change in legislation over financial obligation is indicated. The government belatedly was seen to send military vessels to help repatriate citizens in difficulty although the generosity may be described as token. Scapegoats have been indicated from the various advisory bodies who were acting entirely as required by law and on grounds of safety.

The westerlies are poised to resume their flow over the British Isles; a convenient carpet to sweep things under?

Not one of the three stooges on TV vying for political leadership has mentioned anything.

Hmm!

I'm going to go back to playing with my vibrator and gentials (just like the political leaders).