Tuesday, June 10, 2014

A Quiet, But Still Shaky, Quake Week

While those at the epicenters of the last few days of quakes may not think it was quiet, they should get over it because they all live on plate boundaries and that's where the quakes are! Nothing above 5.7 for the entire 7 day period and most all are at subduction zones around the Pacific and the ongoing India/Asia collision (ongoing for 40 or so million years). No surprises! Earth is still exhaling heat and that heat is slowly pushing the thin, broken pieces of the lithosphere about on the weak, plastic/gooey/oozy layer of the mantle, the asthenosphere.
We see what's happening, have a handle on why it's happening, know where the quakes and volcanoes are going to be and are working on the details but it's only been 50 years, so saying we understand it all would be a bit pompous.  It appears this planet has been trying to chill down ever since it all came together 4.5ish billion years ago and plate tectonics is the result of that cooling.  But it was hot when it formed and it's a big chunk of rock (tiny in the universe picture but... we aren't in the whole universe, only here) and lots of mass holds heat nicely.  Radioactive elements, we now know, break down and add to the heat so, I'm guessing the heat loss, plate movement, earthquake and volcano scene will continue for some time to come.  Longer than we can really be concerned about...
Hang On!! Somewhere, at any time things WILL get shaky, Today On Earth.

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