7 Days of 6.0+ Earthquakes

I know I'm not the only one to have noticed this, but I don't see a thread on ATS about it.

11/11 - 6.8 in Myanmar and 6.5 offshore Guatemala
11/12 - 6.4 in the Gulf of Alaska
11/13 - 6.0 off the coast of Aisen, Chile
11/14 - 6.1 in Coquimbo, Chile
11/15 - 6.0 in Guerrero, Mexico
11/16 - 6.8 in the Kuril Islands (near Russia)
11/17 - 6.1 in the Tonga Region

Source


Source

Have there been any periods in the past where 6.0+ earthquakes manifested in this manner? I'm no earthquake expert, but this just doesn't seem normal to me. It's interesting to note that all of this started to happen on the 11/11 date.

Puterman will be along in just a few moments to tell you how normal or otherwise this is. Unless he is asleep he won't be long.

P

reply to post by SonicInfinity


In the last few days yes there might of been quite a few EQ. If you look at the year in a whole were still almost close to the average of EQ for the year. We had a few quite months during the summer and started to pick back up in August. Puterman made a nice thread about the overall yearly EQ as of the end of October HERE.

The USGS gives an average of 134 6-6-9 earthquakes a year. However, by that same chart we could have 3.62 5.9 earthquakes a day, and that would not be considered anomalous.
I found one chart that appeared to show a rise in 6-6.9 earthquakes. From 111 annually in 1973 to 200 + annually in 2011endoftheamericandream.com

I can't vouch for the source.
This is a subject which interests me mightily, but is far from my field.
I have read Puterman's posts regarding earthquake frequency, and he will convince you pretty quick that all is well, or at least normal.
I tend to think we are in a binary system moving toward perigee, but I don't know that would cause an increase in strong earthquake frequency, even if it were true.
Do you have a theory regarding this increasing trend if it exists?

reply to post by lurksoften


Looking at previous data, the number of earthquakes of 6.0+ in 2012 is actually the lowest its been in quite some time; I'm not disputing that fact. I was just wondering how long ago so many of them happened consecutively. How many days in a row will it have to be before it starts getting strange?

10?

20?

50?

From Wiki, most likely not entirely up to date, but still a useful source for numbers...

2012 # of Major Quakes (2011 in brackets)

9.0 Magnitude - 0 (1)
8.0 Magnitude - 2 (0)
7.0 Magnitude - 11 (19)
6.0 Magnitude - 110 (182)

I say we're lacking in 2012 if anything, though I have noticed that we can barely go 12-20 hours as of the past 8 days or so without a 6+ mag quake popping up. Though the seismic activity seems to be just making up for the yearly average.

I'm sure many people are seeing this as the prerequisite to December 21st

Still, there's nothing going on indicative of any major increase in seismicity. I've seen trends like this before and I've only been watching quakes for the past couple of years.

Earthquake Facts and Statistics

Frequency of Occurrence of Earthquakes (Annually)

8 and Higher - 1

7 - 7.9 - 15
6 - 6.9 - 134
5 - 5.9 - 1319

How many days in a row will it have to be before it starts getting strange?

I'd start to raise a couple eyebrows around two weeks, especially if they were more hefty in size. A few of them are at the 6.0-6.1 threshold. Often there are a fair amount of 5.8-5.9 quakes amidst an uptick in activity. What does stand out is that they appear evenly spread.
 

The "pacific rim" is heating up. I don't think we normally see this much activity on all parts of it, especially up near Alaska and Canada. Just about 45 minutes ago there was a 3.0 quake on Hawaii which is also weird I think. Maybe a big one is coming soon.

Wrong thread....

That's the ring of fire...

en.wikipedia.org...

hmmm....interesting...

I wonder if the trend will continue with another 6.0+ earthquake within the next 24 hours. Rumor has it that the next one might happen around Vancouver Island, but we'll have to see.