7.7 quake hits ocean near Indian islands

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: MSNBC

A very strong earthquake of 7.7 magnitude struck in the Indian Ocean near India's Nicobar Islands and northwest of the tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami watch for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia.

"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a destructive local tsunami and sometimes a destructive regional tsunami along coasts" no more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from the earthquake epicenter, the warning center said.

The epicenter of the quake was 97 miles west of Misha on the Nicobar Islands at a depth of 21.7 miles, USGS said.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37661442/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

[Poll_Blind]

1. Man, those are some serious earthquakes in that region... n/t

PB

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Is it just me, or does it seem there have been a lot of huge quakes lately?

I can't remember so many happening as frequently.

:shrug:

[Posteritatis]

3. No more than usual, just much more coverage of them. (nt)

[sam sarrha]

6. they keep saying it is average....

[Dogmudgeon]

7. We need a serious study on this

We MAY, indeed, be experiencing more earthquake/volcanic activity than usual, and it MAY be from "isostatic rebound", the result of the loss of so much polar ice in such a short time. If we find it is happening, even if the overall amount of activity was still normal, it would make "seismic climatology" a scientific top priority.

But let me repeat the main word: MAY. In order to find out for sure, comprehensive scientific analysis has to be performed first. The "normal" number of earthquakes has fluctuated widely all through history, and it will be difficult to make any definitive statements any time soon.

It is worth keeping in mind, but we don't know with much certainty.

--d!

[OKDem08]

4. I wonder if oil extraction at unprecedented depths

may be a contributing factor

[sam sarrha]

5. here is some information on the source of the Earth quakes in that area >>Link>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba
"...It is the largest volcanic lake in the world.<1>In addition, it is the site of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred 69,000-77,000 years ago,<2><3><4> a massive climate-changing event. The eruption is believed to have had a VEI intensity of 8. This is the largest known eruption anywhere on Earth in the last 25 million years. According to the Toba catastrophe theory to which some anthropologists and archeologists subscribe, it had global consequences, killing most humans then alive and creating a population bottleneck in Central Eastern Africa and India that affected the genetic inheritance of all humans today..."

it was estimated that the Human Population was reduced to about 1000 mating pairs..

http://iguide.travel/Lake_Toba#Map

nice map.. it Zooms

this is the best Documentary ever, it is about what happened after the last Eruption of Toba, and the re-population of the northern hemisphere by a small group of hunters that survived the eruption. based on DNA tests
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373595/

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Eve-Danny-Glover/dp/B00006AUH1