The recent series of earthquakes has raised concerns that something bigger is going on. That we might be building to some big event.

In these sorts of situations it is helpful to hear from reliable experts in the field:

http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/2010/04/the_seismic_non-pocalypse.php

Very good article. It really put things into perspective. I wonder what other correlations could be found between the other high-energy-release years?

-Blast

That's an interesting article. Thanks for the link!

I also hear one expert on public radio comment that in most years the major earthquakes occur mostly in the ocean where there's no population to feel the effect. This year's earthquakes have been near or in heavily populated areas. Henc ethe greater awareness becasue of media reporting.

I don't think the proximity of quakes in or near populated areas is as much of an issue as the effect a distant quake could have on highly populated areas. Conceivably, a huge quake in the middle of the ocean could trigger a massive tsunami. The Canary Island threat is a large ocean away from NYC, but there are those who think it could devastate our eastern seaboard.

The big deal about a severe earthquake is whether or not I'm near it.

If it happens three thousand miles away, it's an energy release. If it happens here, it's a disaster.

Sue

There are those who believe in zombies too.

The problem with these kind of stories is that the "experts" don't really know much more about when these kind of events might happen or how severe they might be than the average person does.

Could be worth a read. A series of 30-50 foot waves washing over the eastern shores of the Americas would certainly make the news.

http://www.amfearliathmor.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/La_Palma.pdf

Death tolls would easily be in the Millions.

Recent geological discoveries such as Susan cites are hardly equivalent to belief in zombies.

The plate tectonic theory didn't come together until the 1960s. Yellowstone was not understood to be an active, ever-shifting caldera until the 1970s. California's San Andreas fault is still not entirely understood or predictable with any precision -- yet California building codes are revised as ever-greater potential for enormous ground motion due to that fault and others is discovered.

It was not until the 1990s that the Pacific Northwest was found to be vulnerable to subduction plate earthquakes 9.0 or greater. That discovery came when someone pieced together Puget Sound sediment, 300-year old, dated Japanese accounts of a tsunami and Indian legends that had been passed down through generations.

Europe wasn't concerned about Iceland's volcanoes until last week.

The Canary Island sequence of events and other landslide-generated tsunamis are similarly recent discoveries. Most geologic history far, far precedes recorded history. That these events occur in a geologic time-frame that does not make precise predictions possible or the events probable in our relatively puny individual lifespans is no reason to belittle their significant threat. We know for certain that cataclysmic events are going to occur in the future. One may occur next month, next year or 10,000 years from now. Exactly when, we don't know. There may never be an i-Phone app for that.

Seems the more we know, the more we know we don't know much relative to all that there is to know. What's the verdict on coffee this week? Good or bad for us?

As to the original post in this thread -- very interesting article, thanks for the link.

Seabed debris has been found several thousand feet up the sides of volcanoes in Hawaii. It got there somehow...

Some authorities suggest that global warming increases earthquake activity.
The partial melting of polar ice, and consequent rise in sea levels, alters the distribution of weight on the earths crust, and increases earthquakes, as polar regions rise (having been relieved of some weight) and ocean areas sink (owing to the greater weight of sea water)

And a good many more authorities smile, roll their eyes, and laugh out loud. The energy involved plate tectonics is far, far greater than the weight shifts experienced so far from glacial melting, at least so far as the major quakes (which are occurring in known tectonic zones) are concerned.

You can get "rebound" earthquakes: Post-Glacial Rebound. But that requires Ice Ages and warm periods between, and anthropogenic warming is, by most accounts, recent in geologic terms.

The problem with "active year" reporting is that earthquakes have nothing to do with the annual calendar. It makes sense to think of hurricanes that way because of seasonal heating, but not earthquakes. At high energies earthquakes become rare enough that no meaningful statistics can be gathered over a single year.

About the only preparedness angle I can think of: you don't need better quake preparations this year than you should have had last year, and that isn't going to change in the (geologic) near future.

Wait! Wait! It's not glacial melting! It's not plate tectonics! It is women wearing skirts that are too short! - newspaper stories quoting a religious leader. I read it in the LA Times, so it must be true.....

... and a devastating Category 5 hurricane begins as a mere dusty wisp of warm air on an African plain, or an alpine village is buried by a huge avalanche that began as a single footfall, or even a noise, in the snow.

The huge energies involved are already stored, in potential form, in the plates themselves, and need not be drawn from any fairly low energy triggers that allegedly cause their release.

As I understand it the LA Times was referencing the claims by a Iranian Mullah that earthquakes were a result of women dressing in an immodest manner. Lots of that going on here and it is only going to get worse. With temperatures in the mid-80s and climbing here in Florida, and the general predilection toward shucking our clothes, everyone might want to avoid unreinforced buildings, weak overhangs, and maintain a tight grip on something solid. If true we will be rockin and rollin all summer long. Which typically lasts into October but has been known to stretch into early December.

Oddly the effect seems uneven. California, a center of bared flesh, is known for its earthquakes. Whereas Florida, with our own streak of hard-core immodesty and outright nudity, doesn't get so many. On the other hand, Iran, with its heavily cloistered and cocooned women, where a bared ankle or neck can get you jailed, has got more than its fair share of temblors. Go figure.

What about headboards banging on walls, maybe the Iranian cleric has a point.... Although it doesn't explain why there aren't any earthquakes in Dundee....

Sheep don't wear short skirts?