Another F'ing Tsunami?

[jemaholic]

'nuff said.....

Scores dead already. 277,000 dead after December's last one.

Does this mean the earth is doing some major changes? 8.7 is TWICE as big as a 8.6 on the Richtor Scale. 2 in a row (geologically speaking- a blink in time) makes me think something big is happening here......

...and in the same place too. I think this might be party of the "circle of fire" in the Pacific Rim.

Anybody a Geology Geek? HELP US OUT HERE!!!!!!!!

[kennydoe]

cnn.com says this one won't be NEARLY as devastating as the last one.
thank goodness!

~K

[caprile]

There's nothing "magical-occult" about the Circle of Fire. Let me explain:

The earth has 3 basic layers: a solid core, a liquid middle layer and solid outer core (the crust). This crust is not formed by a single piece, but by several plates, which interact with each other (think like a soccer ball). As these plates move in different directions, they create tensions on the interfaces, which doesn't let them move fluidly, but by cyclically building tension and releasing, (think about dragging your sneakers, they don't move fluidly, but in little impulses). These releases are earthquakes.

This interfacing causes earthquake and volcanoes, so it is likely that these occur at the edges of plates. If you draw the epicenters of earthaquakes and major volcanoes on a map, you'll find there's a "circle" around the pacific...because this outlines the edges of the Pacific and Nazca plates. So, the mystical Circle of fire is nothing more than the logical locations of these phenomena!

As for the new earthquake in Sumatra, it's an aftershock. That is, all the accumulated energy built up didn't release on the major earthquake, so it has thousands of aftershocks, some huge, like this one, some so small they're only readable with very sensitive instruments.

[microdmitry]

8.7 is the highest Richter number I've heard for earthquakes. I was in the children's hospital in Moscow getting a surgery the year Armenian earthquake struck in Spitak (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...00/2544077.stm).

That was just 6.9 on Richter scale, but it totally flattened this town. I mean totally, there was nothing left. They were right in the epicenter, though. About fifty thousand people died. I kind of felt guilty occupying hospital space, because people who arrived from there were totally wrecked sometimes. Fractured bones, compression syndrome, torn tissues, traumatic amputations, etc.

[caprile]

Whoa, that surely was a hard sight!

The highest recorded magnitude is the chilean Earthquake in Valdivia, 1960. That was a 9.6!

It should be noted that the magnitude is a measure of the energy, not the effects. As Microdimtry explained, a smaller earthquake can have much bigger effects, caused by the "shape" of it source (bassically, if someone moves you up and down, and then sideways, using the same force, the effect will be different), and the location of the epicenter (a huge earthquake 100 miles deep won't have the effects of a smaller one 1 or 2 miles deep, which was surely the case in Armenia.

[little wing]

apparently, i was suppose to feel a little of the quake at kuala lumpur. and so happen that i was down with a little fever, flu and happen to be sleeping at that time! lol. the house could have went down!

my brother which stays a little nearer to the west nearer to the beach area could feel the quake. man!

[jim777]

Originally Posted by jemaholic

8.7 is TWICE as big as a 8.6 on the Richtor Scale.

That's not true. While a 9 is 10 times worse than an 8, that is because the scales is logarithmic, not linear. 8.7 is close to twice as powerful as 8.4.
Another interesting Richter item is that for every jump in whole number (from 7 to 8, for example) you can expect 31 times more energy to be released.

http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/rel...ces/228751.htm

jim

[jemaholic]

Hmmm.....OK. I stand corrected. I thought the scale was expotentially gauged. It's STILL a big one at 8.7!

I'm just concerned that when you get that much siesmic activity in one area it's a bad thing...what's next???

[jim777]

I would hope that after two giant quakes on the same fault in so little time that the pressure on the fault had been released, but an 8.7 right after a 9...who knows what's coming?