Another day, another tsunami
What’s going on? We seem to be having earthquakes & tsunamis much more frequently than when I was a kid. Today it’s Vanuatu’s turn, but why is this happening so often? Is it caused by global warming? Or maybe it’s the combined weight of an over-populated world? Any ideas?
Wally says: I'm taking y'all to VCAT, Woolies. Go on, git! Git out of 'my town'.
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Update: A 60 cm tsunami wave has hit Vanuatu. 60 cm !!!! I think I could survive that.
It’s the lead up to 2012 when the world’s going to be destroyed, apparently. The movie coming up soon looks great. Have a friend who’s involved in a bit of a cult and they’re preparing for 2012 and getting to high ground. Funny. Google 2012, there’s lots of stuff about it.
Why don’t these tsunamis ever reach Australia Don? They only seem to hit 3rd world countries. This could be a conspiracy to keep the world’s population down and reduce the number of illegal immigrants.
I checked out 2012 on Google, Don. So the world’s going to end on 21 – 23 December 2012? I don’t care, as long as St Kilda wins the 2010, 11 & 12 flags I’ll die happy.
Could it just be that a lot more of these things are being reported these days as news services are more global?
Persoanlly I think climate change has a lot of credablity, but don’t see how this would impact earthquakes.
It’s a theory, JB, that climate change & rising sea levels are a factor in the earthquakes. But only a theory and not a proven one, as far as I know. I DO think we are seeing a lot more though.
Rising sea levels means more weight on the tectonic plates below the oceans causing them to shift.
These are big earthquakes too – I remember 7.5 being considered a large earthquake but a lot of these are over 8 on the Richter scale.
That said there are always under sea earthquakes in the Pacific. I guess occassionally they strike near land.
rising sea levels means more weight? But the water has always been there, Wah, be it in liquid or solid form. Help.
Right, Orville.
But the solid form was @ the poles in the form of ice. That ice is melting and redistributing that weight more evenly throughout the oceans.
Does that help?
What JR said.
spose…but melting ice should lower levels instead of increasing, yeah? Or no? I’m an open book. Educate me.
Apparently not, Orville. If the ice is on the ground (like in a glacier) and it melts, it adds to the overall sea volume. Likewise a lot of the ice in the Antarctic sits above the water level, so when it melts the water level must rise.
I’m not saying I believe this theory, btw, just that we do seem to be getting more quakes & tsunamis.
I’m afraid I don’t have any cunning theories on this but it does seem odd that we have a spate of very large earth movements.
I am disappointed that my science was limted to knowing that eggs don’t bounce unless soaked in vinegar.
So, you soak an egg in vinegar ….. and ….. it ….. bounces?
Don’t come looking for me when you do it on the lino in the kitchen and Leanne cracks it because it splattered all over the place.
If it doesn’t work it is global warming or the GFC, or if that fails, it was Malcolm Turnbull.
I blame the GFC (Geelong Football Club). But they’re cactus now – look at St Kilda’s trades!
Another false dawn
Save the world from climate change – BAN AFL!
I am fair from an expert on Geology, but intuitively I would have thought any additional weight from water released from melting ice caps would have been irrelevant in comparison to the pressure caused by tectonic plates?
Lugging a few litres of water in a backpack all day in wilderness conditions might encourage you to amend that theory, JB.
That’s right JR. I think 1 litre of water = about 1/2 kg of weight. Something like that. (I’m sure someone will correct me, please let us know).
I’ll correct myself. I just Googled it: 1 litre of water weighs 1 kg.
Not saying it’s not heavy. Just that in context of the other pressures in the earth’s crust that it wouldn’t make a major difference. Kinda like if I had a billion dollars in the bank and suddenly another 10 million gets put in there, it really doesn’t matter a great deal.
But I really have no idea.
You said it JB
Just send me the $10 mill then JB.
I should have used smaller numbers in my example. After looking on the web all I could find is that glaciers may stabilise faults, but there is nothing about the water weight contributing to earthquake risks.
No, I don’t think there’s any proof of it JB. It’s just a theory – interesting one though.
Btw, I’ll even accept just $1 mill.
That is very kind of you indeed!
Orville, tt’s the ice that melts on the Antarctic continent, that is not already in the sea, which cause the oceans to rise and an increase in their mass.
And it’s not just about the weight of the water, it’s the changing shape of the oceans causing pressure in new places and movements in the sediments on the ocean floor.
I’m helping to save the earth this year by regularly emptying & refilling the pool @ GG. I want to make sure that the water from the Ovens River will never reach the ocean.
Ray, it’s people like you, with the generosity to always consider the safety of his fellow man, that makes this dreary life of mine so rewarding. Geez, I feel better already and looking forward to a restful sleep tonight.
God bless you son.
I might also run a secret underground watering system for the lawn JR, all in the name of preventing rising sea levels, earthquakes & tsunamis.
http://www.safetyproof.com/html/resources/facts_figures.html will give you some answers but I think the fact that they are more fat people than ever on earth could be a contributing factor linked to tsunamis ’specially if they all jump in the ocean at the same time. Samoans are not the skinniest lot are they!
Ralph, I think it’s terribly unfair of you to point your discriminatory finger at poor unfortunate obesity sufferers.
Just don’t let them get on an aeroplane without paying for an extra seat, OK?
All fat people should be forced to relocate inland, and stay away from the sea.
Sorry Ray, but your last comment regarding weight of over population cannot be so as there is a law in chemistry that states that matter cannot be created nor destroyed. Our earth weighs relatively the same from a billion years ago. Save for the odd meteor hitting the earth and the several space craft, junk and foxtel investments floating out there. Maybe it’s God telling us something…
My last comment wasn’t about the weight of the population causing earthquakes*, it was about keeping fat people out of the sea, lest they cause a tsunami. As for the “law” you quote, I think you’ll find that’s a law of physics, not chemistry.
(*I did refer to that in the original post comments … but not seriously)