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Nepal earthquake: Waiting for the complete rupture
[...] "In the 2015 quake, there was only a partial rupture of the major Himalayan fault separating the two continental plates. The frontal, near-surface section of the rupture zone, where the Indian Plate subducts beneath the Eurasian Plate, did not slip and remains under stress," explains Dal Zilio, lead author of the study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
Normally, a major earthquake releases almost all the stress that has built up in the vicinity of the focus as a result of displacement of the plates. "Our model shows that, although the Gorkha earthquake reduced the stress level in part of the rupture zone, tension actually increased in the frontal section close to the foot of the Himalayas. The apparent paradox is that 'medium-sized' earthquakes such as Gorkha can create the conditions for an even larger earthquake," says Dal Zilio.
Tremors of the magnitude of the Gorkha earthquake release stress only in the deeper subsections of the fault system over lengths of 100 kilometres. In turn, new and even greater stress builds up in the near-surface sections of the rupture zone.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Saturday January 26 2019, @04:53PM (3 children)
Anybody else start to read that at first as Waiting for the Rapture?
Had a plant in South America hit by a major earthquake some years back. Interesting thing about satellite photos, you could see where things were offset in the images before and after.
Also buildings were sort of missing in the after shots...
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 26 2019, @05:10PM (1 child)
Still waiting for California to split into several separate states... Literally, not by vote.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday January 26 2019, @05:52PM
Why be so picky?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday January 26 2019, @06:39PM
Waiting for the rupture... rapture... raptor? Who knows? Could be the site of yet another Jurassic Park sequel, which could be another sort of disaster...
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Saturday January 26 2019, @05:10PM
"I was really sad when my house collapsed on my family. Now, thanks to science, I cheer, for they were lucky to avoid the anxiety of the upcoming even bigger quake that would kill them."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 26 2019, @11:27PM
Hey Indians! Why go through all the paperwork of applying for a visa? Just move to Nepal and when the fault slips again you will be catapulted into the air with enough force to land in USA where you can do the needful.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @01:22AM (1 child)
"Complete rupture?" This is Himalaya, where Indian subcontinent buts up against Asian one and mountain peaks rise every year. There is no such a thing as "complete" rupture and periodic earthquakes will continue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @04:24PM
only if the earth splits smack down the middle into two equal parts will all earthquakes stop...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 27 2019, @05:40AM
The Cascadia Subduction Zone lies in the Pacific near the west coasts of Vancouver Island, Washington and Oregon. Every 450 to 600 years it results in a Magnitude 9 Earthquake. That's geologist talk for "real bad".
It is well-known that all three coast will be inundated by a one-hundred forty foot Tsunami but as there is money to be made, no one is moving away from the coast.
That the last quake with 300 years ago leads to what I regard as a completely unwarranted sense of safety; we can really only predict quakes just a few minutes in advance.
As for me, I've been stockpiling water, canned goods and dried beans. I'll be adding rice when I can find a shop that sells large sacks of the brown kind. I really like what the Tacquerias use for burritos, so I'll ask a friend who is a waitress.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Monday January 28 2019, @10:20PM
I wish I had been made aware of it much earlier in life. My high school teacher did not present much info on bigger picture geology, but concentrated mostly on the sort of lab stuff that field geologists sort of despise. I never paid attention until I was near 40 and visited Death valley.
There are major faults that have not had "release" from earthquakes in the US, not the least of which is the Hayward fault near San Francisco. The boundary where the Pacific Plate is sliding against the North American Plate is not the San Andreas Fault, that is only the most prominent fault in about a 50 mile wide series of parallel faults. All of them are under some level of pressure. There is also the spreading center apparently forming with current boundaries in the west at the Sierra Nevada and in the east somewhere probably in Utah. All of these things will have disastrous consequences for whatever organisms call that area when the big blows hit, but it could be tomorrow or it could be millions of years from now. Might as well eat, drink and be merry.