geologist seem to think the little ones are simply the earth relaxing..taking a stretch.

i dunno.

8 years in Seattle, not one quake that I felt.

Don't know. I'm certainly no expert. I always thought an earthquake was kind of like that too much coffee feel but you look at the house plants and see the leaves slighly moving.

But I stayed a few days in Christchurch. OMG 4.8 and I thought the building was going to fall down. I could see the walls moving about four inches. :eek:

I'm no geologist, either. But I do work with stochastic modeling.

Black swan events happen. Sure, normally small quakes happen back to back with no big quakes in between, but this is no guarantee. It is possible to switch regimes or experience "jumps."

not too strong, and real short. My kids thought dynosours were comming.

Short and quick was over before knew what was going on.

But the mountains down here don't blow up ............... :eek:

no matter where ya live there's always something that can get ya eventually.

Sometimes small quakes relieve tension, but they can also increase tension on an adjacent fault.
'Spose a bunch of smaller side faults crack and slip, that could increase the tension on a major fault and lead up to the big one. Think they call them fore-shocks.

Lots of really smart people work their whole lives to figure this stuff out but there are just too many variables and scenarios.

my son is planning to go to Cal Tech one of these days, he was originally talking about astrophysics but he talked to a professor named Lucy up there and she's got him seriously thinking about going into the quake biz for the USGS.
I told him to get ready for a lifetime of hard work and frustration ..........

That's what the wife said last night:(

What where you doing with HIS wife last night?

Nudge nudge wink wink, say no more?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1339697050.jpg

Sharp, short and sudden. A non event that there is very little mention of it in the media..... Kinda like Sammy's love life.

I got mine SmileWavy

We celebrated our 20th a few months back.
Well not really celebrated it, more like acknowledged it.
The honeymoon is definately over :D

That sounds cool. Geology really interests me. On the same level as engineering. Engineering should provide a better paycheck, though. And I like cars a lot.

Good for him.