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Tough year for Natural Disasters


NUKE_CLEVELAND

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QUOTE(knightni @ Oct 9, 2005 -> 01:05 PM)
Not to draw away from the massive casualties, but...

 

You think it might draw Bin Laden out?

 

Its not really that close to it. If I am understanding the distances right, it is at least 500 miles away from where Bin Laden would be hiding.

 

Also the Trib is reporting this morning that 20,000 people are dead.

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The fault line that lies throughout the Indian ocean up through India and Asia is the most active fault line/continental plate in the world right now isnt it? With all of the recent, chaotic, and violent activity on that fault line, its pretty scary to think that the Tsunami and earthquake are only the start of something pretty big.

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QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Oct 10, 2005 -> 09:22 AM)
The fault line that lies throughout the Indian ocean up through India and Asia is the most active fault line/continental plate in the world right now isnt it?  With all of the recent, chaotic, and violent activity on that fault line, its pretty scary to think that the Tsunami and earthquake are only the start of something pretty big.

There is FAR MORE than 1 fault line running through there.

 

This one is totally unrelated to the events in Sumatra.

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QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 10, 2005 -> 12:44 PM)
There is FAR MORE than 1 fault line running through there.

 

This one is totally unrelated to the events in Sumatra.

 

I dont think its totally unrelated.

 

http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/plates.html

 

The african and australian plate are pushing against each other, and it runs up through the Indian and Australian plate.

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QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Oct 10, 2005 -> 11:33 AM)
I dont think its totally unrelated.

 

http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/plates.html

 

The african and australian plate are pushing against each other, and it runs up through the Indian and Australian plate.

Just because 2 events lie on the same plate does not imply that they are in any way related.

 

In fact, the African plate most likely really isn't doing all that much pushing. The dynamicists keep telling us that the main driving force in plate tectonics is slab buoyancy...in other words, the fact that old oceanic lithosphere becomes more dense than the mantle it sits upon and then drags itself downwards. This is what is happening in Sumatra...the "Australian Plate" is composed of oceanic crust that is sinking into the mantle beneath Sumatra.

 

In Northern India however, the slab which originally dragged India up against Eurasia is long sense broken away and subducted. However, India still is pushing up against Eurasia, and in fact, portions of the Indian continental landmass may be trying to follow the slab down and subducting underneath Tibet. It's actually quite the fascinating story and I don't think the dynamics of it are fully understood.

 

But back to the general question of "if they are related"...the Pacific Plate is subducting under Alaska, Japan, and the Marianas, among other places. It is also sliding past the North American plate in California and Canada. If there were an Earthquake in the Aleutians...it would be on the Pacific/North American plate boundary. If it were followed by 1 on in California...they would be on the same plate boundary. However, they would not be related in the least...the 2 events would be totally independent of each other. They would not have triggered each other. Each could just as easily have happened independently 200 years apart, and it was only random chance which made them happen in a nearby time span.

 

On the other hand, we can take a look at the 2 recent gigantic earthquakes in Sumatra for an example of 2 large quakes that are related. The first quake hit in December and broke along a very long portion of the Sumatran subduction Zone. When this fault broke, it placed added stress on the portion of the fault immediately next to it. A few months later, that segment itself ruptured, producing another nearly magnitude 9 event. In fact, the areas which seem to have slipped are separated by only a few kilometers. These 2 events are related, in that the motion on 1 portion of the fault placed added stress on another portion of the fault, and that added stress was enough to cause a second rupture nearby.

 

The earthquake in Sumatra would have produced absolutely no net change in the stress balance on the fault lines in Pakistan, India, China, or almost anywhere else except for the faults right along that subduction zone. When these faults slip, we're talking about displacements on the order or 5-30 meters depending on the magnitude of the event. If you then ask how much change that will cause 1000 kilometers away, you're talking about 30 meters over 1 million meters, or a change on the order of 10^-5 in the strain on that plate. That is not nearly enough of a change to have any sort of triggering effect anywhere else along the plate boundaries.

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QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Oct 10, 2005 -> 12:55 PM)
When thinking of all these natural disaters, does anyone think of the movie "The Day After Tommorrow"????

 

 

That movie was as unrealistic as it was funny. I never laughed so hard as when the tornadoes ripped apart LA, then this janitor opens a door and finds the rest of the building gone. HAHA!

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QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Oct 10, 2005 -> 04:07 PM)
That movie was as unrealistic as it was funny.  I never laughed so hard as when the tornadoes ripped apart LA, then this janitor opens a door and finds the rest of the building gone.  HAHA!

I know but it just brings the movie to my head. The reporter getting PWNED and anhialated by the billboard was best.

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QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Oct 10, 2005 -> 03:07 PM)
That movie was as unrealistic as it was funny.  I never laughed so hard as when the tornadoes ripped apart LA, then this janitor opens a door and finds the rest of the building gone.  HAHA!

 

My favorite part was the whole wolves ordeal. Those wolves escaped the central park zoo, survived the 500 foot tidal wave that obliterated the city, survived the temperature drop that froze people solid instantly, then hunted for people around New York.

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QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Oct 10, 2005 -> 03:20 PM)
My favorite part was the whole wolves ordeal. Those wolves escaped the central park zoo, survived the 500 foot tidal wave that obliterated the city, survived the temperature drop that froze people solid instantly, then hunted for people around  New York.

 

 

The tempurature drop hadn't happened at that point.

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QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Oct 10, 2005 -> 02:20 PM)
My favorite part was the whole wolves ordeal. Those wolves escaped the central park zoo, survived the 500 foot tidal wave that obliterated the city, survived the temperature drop that froze people solid instantly, then hunted for people around  New York.

 

 

How about the dude in the Porsche who got wiped out by some flying debris. The guy on the radio is like "WOAH Something took out that Porsche!!! I hope nobody was in there."

 

LOL!

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