The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162824   Message #3877976
Posted By: David Carter (UK)
21-Sep-17 - 09:43 AM
Thread Name: BS: Hurricanes & Earthquakes - related?
Subject: RE: BS: Hurricanes & Earthquakes - related?
Without wanting to come over all Paul Hogan here, those aren't earthquakes. The strongest of those was 4 on the Richter scale. An increase of 1 on the Richter scale corresponds to an increase in energy released of a factor 31.6. The recent Mexico city earthquake was 7.1, so energy released a factor 45000 greater than the strongest of those UK events. I am not sure whether thats a subduction earthquake. Sumatra 2004 and Tohoku 2011 which were subduction events were 9.1 on the Richter scale, which according to my calculator app releases 44.5 million times as much energy as the very strongest of those UK events.

Now you do get moderately strong earthquakes away from subduction zones, famously the New Madrid earthquakes in the central USA in the early 19th century. The San Andreas fault is a lateral fault so the plates are sliding laterally past each other (rather than one under the other as in a subduction zone). This type of fault likewise gives rise to moderately strong earthquakes.

The recent Mexico city earthquake seems to have triggered an eruption of Popocatepetl. Some people were briefly concerned about the proximity of the 2004 Sumatra earthquake to Toba Lake. And you really, really don't want an eruption of Toba lake.