Why the Recent Sumatra Quake Was So Strange

The unexpectedly large earthquake that hit Sumatra last month is forcing scientists to rethink common assumptions about earthquake physics, researchers say. The magnitude 8.6 earthquake that struck in the Indian Oceanoff the western coast of Sumatra on April 11 was one of the 10 largest earthquakesever recorded, and was felt as far away as Bangladesh and India. However, no quake-related fatalities were reported.

Odd earthquake
Unusually, this quake apparently occurred in the middle of an oceanic plate. All the other top 10 quakes happened at subduction zones, where one of the tectonic plates making up the Earth's surface is diving beneath another. [13 Crazy Earthquake Facts]

Also oddly, the Sumatra temblor was a strike-slip earthquake, where two parts of Earth's crust slide past each other. Strike-slip quakes are not typically so powerful — the Sumatra event was "far and away the largest strike-slip earthquake ever recorded," said researcher Gregory Beroza, a seismologist at Stanford University. Its magnitude 8.2 aftershock was also among the largest recorded strike-slip earthquakes.

The reason why this quake was surprisingly powerful might lie in how deep the faults that triggered it ran, scientists now suggest.

Seismology readings suggest the Sumatra quake and its aftershock originated at depths between 25 to 33 miles (40 to 54 kilometers). At those depths, rock is blazingly hot, about 1,110 to 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit (600 to 800 degrees Celsius). At such temperatures, rock can become viscous at certain points, and in extreme cases, fault zones may even melt, enabling large amounts of energy to be released as parts of the Earth slide past each other.

Read more at link above.

I worry about the BTB (Bastards That Be) messing with the tectonic-plates (with who-knows-what technologies). I think I'm going to rewatch '2012' -- just to sink a bit deeper into unyielding-despair. Sometimes I'm sort of eschatologically-masochistic.

What I thought was so amazing was in the last Sumatra quake of 8.6 there were no quakes. I call that a tremendous blessing. Moving through these earth changes without loss of life in some of these major events lets us know some things are moving in the right direction.

What if 'Earth-Changes' are a cover for nasty secret-government factional-fighting? As you can tell, I've become quite cynical regarding a peaceful and happy universe -- especially within this solar system. It seems like all of us -- in all factions -- will be fighting with each other for all eternity -- but I so hope that I'm wrong.

Does it matter? All that exists is god's plan. Why worry about it as they may indirectly be working toward the greater good without any knowledge of their roles.