And, Then, Too Shaky!

No surprise that after a few quiet days the shaky planet would get back to the slipping and sliding. An 8.6 quake and an 8.2 aftershock off northern Sumatra on the 11th (and now dozens of aftershocks)  caused major tsunami concerns around the Indian Ocean. The lateral movement of the strike-slip quake didn't move much water and waves were small. Subduction, one ocean plate being forced beneath another chunk of Earth's outer rocky skin is what causes the big water displacement that makes for killer tsunamis. No subduction this time but seismologist are a little shocked at the strength of this strike-slip quake. The warning system around the Indian Ocean put in place after the 2004 Boxing Day quake/tsunami seemed to get out the word around the basin. Good news for Indian Ocean dwellers.
A 6.5 quake in southwestern Mexico and then 6.2 and 6.9 quakes in the Gulf of California along Mexico's Baja Peninsula (Lower San Andreas fault) continue to keep our neighbors to the south on notice of their location on the shaky Pacific Rim. A 6.2 quake in the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica is just one more reminder of the trembling nature of our planet.
Only a minor, tiny shake here in central Va. that I've been aware of this past week.
Hang on Earthlings!!!