South American plate shifted to the west

[fondacey]

Just heard on CNN that the quake in Chile shifted cities in Chile up to 11 inches to the west. Across on the Atlantic coast, Rio shifted a few centimeters. All demonstrated by GPS.

Not a surprise really....but that all of a sudden you're at another location according to your GPS

[infinity]

Your home gps won't know the difference, it is within its tolerance. But now the military will have to recalibrate all those missiles!

[carolinaviking]

Something is definitely happening under the surface. How many earthquakes have been reported since Haiti? Like four more?

[infinity]

Originally Posted by carolinaviking

Something is definitely happening under the surface. How many earthquakes have been reported since Haiti? Like four more?

We seem to be right on track, we haven't even had this years 8.0 yet.

Originally Posted by infoplease.com

"There are thousands upon thousands of earthquakes annually, ranging on average from 18 major quakes to more than 2 million very minor ones per year (approximately 8,000 per day). On average, we can expect one exceptionally big one (with a magnitude of 8 or higher) each year."

[infinity]

Magnitude Average Annually
8 and higher 1 ¹
7 - 7.9 17 ²
6 - 6.9 134 ²
5 - 5.9 1319 ²
4 - 4.9 13,000
(estimated)
3 - 3.9 130,000
(estimated)
2 - 2.9 1,300,000
(estimated)
¹ Based on observations since 1900.
² Based on observations since 1990.


http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...ar/eqstats.php

[Zoot]

It also shifted the Earth's axis!

[Moozeylicious]

I'm gonna miss those 1.26 milliseconds

[fondacey]

Could be a zero sum thing going on. Seems the moon is moving away from the Earth which is slowing down the rotation.

[Blitz]

Originally Posted by fondacey

Could be a zero sum thing going on. Seems the moon is moving away from the Earth which is slowing down the rotation.

Yeah I've noticed that. Making it harder to get out of bed in the morning.

[snickey]

I feel the earth move under my feet....

[carolinaviking]

Originally Posted by infinity

We seem to be right on track, we haven't even had this years 8.0 yet.

Yeah we did. The quake in Chile was an 8.8.

[infinity]

I thought Chile was a 7.9?

[infinity]

We are still having around the same number we have been having all along, I don't think there is any unusual increase in them. We are just getting a lot more inundated with the news of them.

[carolinaviking]

Originally Posted by infinity

I thought Chile was a 7.9?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americ...ex.html?hpt=T2

[Mae]

Infinity wrote:

We are still having around the same number we have been having all along, I don't think there is any unusual increase in them. We are just getting a lot more inundated with the news of them.

Very true: Chileans are accustomed to having slight to major tremors on a daily basis. It is a country of incredible geologic activity: natural disasters have included active volcanoes and all the way up and down the coast, there are slight to mid-range tsunamis every day as well.

The worst tsunami in history (before this century) had it's epicenter in Chile and caused massive destruction all the way across the ocean to Japan, among other places. Japan has historically been the recipient of tsunami's caused by quakes at epicenter's centered very far away. No surprise tsunami is a Japanese word.

The problem is that although all newer buildings are made earthquake safe in Chile now, even they will not withstand a major quake. There are also so many older buildings and the cost of making them earthquake safe is out of the question. Like Haiti: the destruction factor of earthquakes is very tied to economics and the poverty level of any given country.

But, compared to other regions though, there is a low incidence of corrupt building practices in chile: the devastating quake in Turkey a few years back was so destructive to human life due to widespread corruption in building practices. The sand used to mix with concrete in buildings was harvested from beaches and had a high salt content that weakened the armering (spelling?) in buildings.

[palmettofairy]

I took an earthquakes class in college. I cant remember zip. My TA basically did me and my lab partners labs and for our big research project on anything earthquake related, I wrote about their psychological impacts while my lab partner wrote about earthquake poetry. We sucked. Thank God that the professor took immense pity on the 2 non science majors in the class.

[Zoot]

The Ring of Fire is on the move again! There was a 6.6 in Japan and a 6.4 in Indonesia.