Looking at the daily energy release chart I don't even know what value they are using, it is so rare to see values expressed that high. 2EJ, possibly 2 exo joules? On the second day the daily energy release is 3.2PJ which is still a massive amount in it's own right, just small in context of the day before!
Bloody terrifying, isn't it. I had the NZ one saved and it is very sobering to watch it scroll through. That was one huge quake and so many large aftershocks. Those poor souls.
I was having some fun with the Earthquake database at the USGS.
Downloaded data for all earthquakes from 1973 through March of this year...
Plotted them up in Excel. Look familiar? The Mid-Atlantic rift sticks out, as does the west coast of the Americas and Japan... not to mention the subduction zones of Indonesia through the Asian subcontinent.
Cheers for doing that. I've had a certain interest pique in basic geology since these last few earthquake events in Japan and New Zealand. Very fascinating.
Cheers for doing that. I've had a certain interest pique in basic geology since these last few earthquake events in Japan and New Zealand. Very fascinating.
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Ya, my interest has piqued as well. As a Petroleum Engineer, I'm heavy into geology, but have never really stopped to think about it in relation to plate tectonics and earthquakes. Too busy trying to find oil and gas to drive the world economy...
BTW: If you look closely at my graph, you can just make out Australia
Yeah, after I saw the Japan Quake Map, I just zoomed the Google Map out and started observing the lines of the plates in the ocean. I had never thought about looking at those before. It's amazing to think that there's these ginormous plates under us all stuck together, but, still moving about. What makes them move? Is it heat in the core radiated outwards that budges them? If there's increased earthquake activity in any one period of time, does that mean the core is heating up more so?
I thought there was a topic here on Plate Tectonics where I stated that movement is related to convection of the magma, which is driven by heat resulting from the original accretion of the earth...
But alas, I can't seem to find my post, so I can only conclude that I (once again) have suffered a brain fart or my bi-polar opposite must have dreamed it all up...
Nope... did a search in my profile for all of my posts... nothing. I guess I dreamed it... or I typed a lot and forgot to hit "Post"...
But I remember clarifying someones point about lunar or solar tides being the cause of the earth's heat, which I stated was incorrect (it's actually latent heat from the formation of the earth) and added something about radioactive decay being another contributor to generated heat within the earth...
USGS Earthquake Database
