The Japan Earthquake won't trigger California Quake
by Iamallcool 1 Replies latest jw friends
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WTWizard
From what I saw, Japan is sitting on a big cliff under the ocean. If that cliff is crumbling, you are going to see other earthquakes there. And, since the whole island is built on volcanoes and is in a geologically unstable area, I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see the whole island fall into the sea only to have another one built by the same volcanoes that built the first one. It is happening in Hawaii, but since that is more geologically stable (no major fault lines), it is happening more slowly. Another area that is unstable is the Andes mountain range in South America--they are very tall but crumbling rather quickly.
California is only on a major fault line. There is no major underwater cliff supporting California. What you do have is one plate crashing slowly into another, and moving along the other plate. This collision is responsible for the coastal mountains there, and since they are moving close to parallel to each other, you are seeing earthquakes there. This is a separate situation from Japan.
However, what can happen is a quake in one area can put stress on other regions. If a region is past due for its own earthquake, an earthquake in another area can be what finally triggers one in its own area. However, you cannot generate an earthquake if the stress isn't there in the first place.