(April 30, 2023 at 2:13 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote:(April 30, 2023 at 1:40 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: The doesn’t sound plausible. If there are just two magnitude 5.0 quakes in a decade, there would have to be a 10.0+ magnitude quake in the same decade.
Boru
Earthquake magnitudes are exponential. a magnitude 5.2 earthquake would release as much energy as 2 magnitude 5.0 earthquakes. a magnitude 6 earthquake would release 32 times as much energy as a magnitude 5 earthquake, and a magnitude 9 earthquake will release nearly an million times as much energy as an magnitude 5 earthquake.
There can be no magnitude 10 earthquake, at least not if the earthquake is caused by fault movements driven by internal forces of the earth, and not by an asteroid impact. This is because the strength of earth rocks puts an upper limit on how much energy can be stored in faults on earth before the fault has to rupture and release the energy.
I didn’t really need a lecture on seismology, but thanks all the same.
Even taking into account the exponential nature of earthquake magnitudes, it still seems implausible. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of quakes every year. For a single quake to expend more energy than all those others, it would have to be a planet-buster.
I’m willing to retract my objection if you can provide a source.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
