Comments on: Aftershocks

By: Ned Potter

Ned Potter — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:16:06 +0000

Note from Ned:
Thanks for the catch, Andy. Hawaii is indeed considered a “hot spot,” with frequent volcanic activity. The largest factor in Sunday’s quake was probably the sheer weight of the magma that has escaped to the earth’s surface and cooled there. I didn’t make that clear enough; I was just trying to point out how Hawaii was different from other seismically active places on the planet.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:28:04 +0000

Ned,
If your comment about the “sea of beige” is asking why the quake happened in the middle of a plate, it may be that the islands themselves are the indicator. The Hawaiian Islands are moving over a “hot spot”. I would assume this is a thin place in the plate. Since there’s always intense volcanic activity there, maybe something big is going to happen.

By: chuck

chuck — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 13:13:35 +0000

From what I’ve heard yesterday evening and this morning, there was property damage in Hawaii, but no loss of life. Would that it would be so in other earthquakes throughout the world!