Are all the fault lines in the United States?

I was looking at the usgs site and it seems like we have been hammered with earthquakes recenly. I looked at the world map, and it shows that others have had earthquakes but not for a week. I am just looking at the images here so if I am mistaken please feel free to correct me.


I am not an expert in Geology or the study of earthquakes, does the U.S. have more faultlines than the rest of the world or are these pages not updating properly?

I am just noticing alot of activity in Alaska and California and surrounding states these last few days.

Here's a link for the U.S. Recent Quake Pics United States.

Here's the link for the World Recent Quake Pics World

You may find this thread interesting:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

It may help answer some of your questions.

Thanks Banshee I find that thread very helpful. Could you lock this please?

You'd probably find that most earthquakes occur on the other side of the Pacific, along the whole island chain stretching from Japan in the north to Papua New Guinea in the south. This is where the fault lines are considered to be under the most pressure, with the Phillipine, Australian, Indian, Eurasian, Pacific and North American Plates all colliding in this region.

Having said that, I am referring only to the frequency of earthquakes. Severe quakes can occur anywhere along any faultline in the world, and sometimes there can be a quake where there are no major faultlines.

The Juan De Fuca Plate off the Pacific coast of the US gets a lot of press coverage due to its proximity to large population centres, threatening what is pretty much the centre of modern media - LA. The east end of the plate contains the famous San Andreas Faultline. The Plate's small size and instability has the potential to wreak a lot of havoc.

The fact that the website you are looking at is run by the USGS (United States Geological Survey) pretty much sums up the discrepancy you have noticed. Its main aim is to monitor quake activity in the US. The worldwide stats they gather come from quake monitoring stations around the world which are not under the auspices of the US. These stations are not under obligation to supply the USGS with quake info. Consequently, the worldwide map on USGS's site may not necessarily be as complete or up-to-date as the US map.

No opinions, just information.