Okay... Now i am getting worried.

[Brad Shepard]

There have been a lot of really nasty earthquakes recently. Is this kind of siesmic activity normal, is it just hitting populated area's more than usual? Or is there something else going on here, a planetary shift of some kind.
Does anyone have any idea?
Is anybody else worried?

BTW: My heart goes out to all those affected and hurt.

we have been having earthquakes for years now, the first big one i remember in the last few years was the one that happened the day after christmas (The Tsunami was caused by an earthquake) and its been on and off for the last couple of years now, it happens.

 

[The Brewin]

It's perfectly normal activity. People build near resources, which are often located near areas of seismic activity. Also, with the speed of information these days, you're more likely to hear more detailed information about the activity occurring.

I agree with this. Also I think with todays faster moving media we can more easily hear about the disasters. I don't think its getting any more "frequent" to the point of it being dangerous enough to worry over. It may be a trend...but the trend is in media not in an increase of actual disasters.

This sounds ridiculously stupid! Tv has allowed us to do this for like the past 30 years, it wasn't like until last year we'd turn on tv and on the news it would read "Breaking News...Last week an earthquake hit Haiti" I doubt anyone on this board has lived in a world were such disasters were not reported near instantly?

 

[JEBWrench]

This sounds ridiculously stupid! Tv has allowed us to do this for like the past 30 years, it wasn't like until last year we'd turn on tv and on the news it would read "Breaking News...Last week an earthquake hit Haiti" I doubt anyone on this board has lived in a world were such disasters were not reported near instantly?

Actually, it's not as stupid as you think. Now we can get near instantaneous reports of world events, rather than the report/research/verification cycle of the old media.

Constant updates and media hypersaturation are the norm now, as opposed to "X number dead in Statsticland. Up next, sports."

 

[Namulith]

As much as I love speculating on when Lex Luthor will strike with his Earthquake Laser next, this kind of crap happens all the time. People seem to forget that there were a quite a few major earthquakes in the 80s that happened one right after the other.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

It's gotta be Violence Jack, just going around making earthquakes for no adequately explained reason as usual.

 

[JEBWrench]

It's gotta be Violence Jack, just going around making earthquakes for no adequately explained reason as usual.

Can't be! Old Violence Jack only comes out on leap years. (Unless this really is a leap year, and the Mayans tricked us again...)

 

[BrownGaijin]

From the United States Geological survey:

Magnitude No. per Year
8 and higher 1
7 - 7.9 17
6 - 6.9 134
5 - 5.9 1319
4 - 4.9 13,000
3 - 3.9 130,000
2 - 2.9 1,300,000

 

[Divine Miss Bee]

it's unsettling, but the fact of life is that we are just little specks on the planet's surface. it will do as it pleases whether we are here or not, and if we die or our stuff breaks, the earth doesn't care. besides, what if it was the apocalypse? not much we could do anyway. might as well go get a hooker and call it a night.

 

[Valiance]

Clearly, it's subterranean nuclear tests.

Conspiracylol.

 

[Nalesnik]

Yes, earthquakes are sentient and are targeting people...why is everyone on here such a drama queen? Is it the whole "ive watched too much scifi" thing? More people = more "populated" areas than before.

That's exactly what the Mayans WANT you to think. Your playing right into their hands, you foolish fool!
I dunno about you but I'm going to go stock up on bottled water and shotguns.

 

[Burwood123]

Don't worry, this is a normal level of activity. But with the rapid response of the media and with them reporting any earthquake over a 6 there seems to be more and more earthquakes recently... But this IS a normal level of seismic activity

 

[MetricFurlong]

The main pro argument I heard from a guy I know running his own doomsday cult is: "Both science and religion is in agreement" as if it's some clear cut marvel team-up between the Pope and Stephen Hawking.

Well, they're generally in agreement that the end of the world isn't upon us, but I don't think that's quite what he meant.

Yes, earthquakes are sentient and are targeting people...why is everyone on here such a drama queen? Is it the whole "ive watched too much scifi" thing? More people = more "populated" areas than before.

That's exactly what the Mayans WANT you to think. Your playing right into their hands, you foolish fool!
I dunno about you but I'm going to go stock up on bottled water and shotguns.

But don't you see? That's exactly what they want you to do! All bottled-water and shotgun production was compromised years ago so that when their final takeover took place most of humanity would be powerless to resist them. At this point, the only options that are definitely free from Mayan contamination are sharpened toothpicks and dry cured weasel.

 

[JEBWrench]

That's exactly what the Mayans WANT you to think. Your playing right into their hands, you foolish fool!
I dunno about you but I'm going to go stock up on bottled water and shotguns.

Wait, wouldn't stocking up on ammunition be better?

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Weight=Gravitic Force=F(g)

F(g)=m*a

m=mass(Kg)

a=9.8(m.s^-2) Which is pretty much a constant on earth surface for any macroscopic calculations.

If you have more ice packed into a smaller volume then you have more mass. You have to remember that the earth is a closed system, we only exchange energy with the outside, not matter(except for the occasional satellite or meteor. So the whole idea of there being more or less mass over the Earth's crust based on the state of the matter is well... silly.

Overall yes. But remember that mass can be concentrated in a certain area. If you melt the ice of Antarctica, you would be effectively lifting entire mountain ranges off the crust in that region and spreading it evenly around the globe. This would reduce the pressure on more southerly areas of the ring of fire as Antarctica "floats" upwards on the mantle. That could well lead to more seismic activity.

 

[Xanadu84]

The melting ice caps put less pressure on fault lines around the Earth, allowing them to open up like old wounds, which explains the increase seismic activity lately.

At least that's what I've heard.

And somehow a kilo of ice weighs more than a kilo of water? [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouFailPhysicsForever]

A kilo of ice most certainly can weigh more than a kilo of water. It's the difference between mass and weight. Having a kilo of ice and a kilo of water just mean that you have the same amount of actual stuff (mass) in both. Density needs to also be taken into account when figuring weight. If you have a kilo of something packed into a small space, it will likely weigh less than a kilo of something spread out over a large space. So ice can weigh more than water, even if they are essentially the same substance, because the ice is tightly packed, while the water will be spread out. That's how you can have enough water packed into the relatively small space of the polar ice caps to raise the sea level enough to swallow even rather large islands whole.

If you weigh the same mass of substance, they weigh the same. It doesn't take density into consideration.

Also, ice in water does not raise the sea level. Ice also has a lower density and is therefore less dense (or packed if you will) than water.
That doesn't mean it lowers the sealevel, though. Ice replaces the same amount of water it weighs, raising the sea by the same amount whether it is frozen or liquid.

EDIT: Ow, massively ninja'd. Oh well

I think a lot of people are overlooking the obvious here: Ice does weigh more heavily on certain areas then water would. Take, for example, a person picking up a giant block with there hands. Very, very heavy. What happens when the ice melts? Is he carrying the same weight? No, because all the water just fell through his fingers, onto the ground.

 

[De Ronneman]

They were always there. It's just that they're in the news now. You'd think differently with 2012 comming up, but I don't think it has anything to do with the apocalypse or something.

 

[Artemicion]

Antarctica is a continent; a land mass. It will do none of the aforementioned "floating". The continent is not resting on a sheet of ice - as it is, there is very little ice on, in or around Antartica, with the only large masses being the caps around the rim - and those do not have the sufficient amount of mass needed to apply pressure to move or keep still any tectonic plates. Ice and earthquakes aren't related, and seismic activity could care less about the state of matter of water.

The tectonic plates are moving around a lot - they're supposed to. Earthquakes are as inevitable as sunrise, and if a city is built on or near the edges of a plate - like Haiti - there is an increased chance of disaster.

 

[Artemicion]

I think a lot of people are overlooking the obvious here: Ice does weigh more heavily on certain areas then water would. Take, for example, a person picking up a giant block with there hands. Very, very heavy. What happens when the ice melts? Is he carrying the same weight? No, because all the water just fell through his fingers, onto the ground.

Hahaha, what? Mass doesn't change when the state of matter changes. Ice does not weigh more heavily than water anywhere. There's a reason ice floats in water, you guys. It's called density, and no, that doesn't make it heavier either.

A kilo of ice most certainly can weigh more than a kilo of water.

Just like how a kilo of bricks weighs more than a kilo of feathers, right?
heeheehee

 

[cuddly_tomato]

I think a lot of people are overlooking the obvious here: Ice does weigh more heavily on certain areas then water would. Take, for example, a person picking up a giant block with there hands. Very, very heavy. What happens when the ice melts? Is he carrying the same weight? No, because all the water just fell through his fingers, onto the ground.

Hahaha, what? Mass doesn't change when the state of matter changes. Ice does not weigh more heavily than water anywhere. There's a reason ice floats in water, you guys. It's called density, and no, that doesn't make it heavier either.

No but the weight in that region shifts. When you shift that much weight it might well have a big effect on the crust of the earth it is lying on.