Rumbling from ocean trenches could be sign that Japan faces mega earthquake

[Luiz 4,253]

Researchers in Japan have for the first time detected and traced shallow tremors under the ocean that could be a sign that the country is heading towards a huge earthquake. But the technique itself may one day help us predict exactly when such an event would take place, which could save thousands of lives.

Japan still has the devastating 9.0 magnitude, megathrust earthquake in Tohoku in fresh memory, which produced a powerful tsunami and killed nearly 16,000 people when it hit in 2011. It is therefore no wonder that Japanese researchers are the first to detect weak signals of seismic activity.

Japan already has the most powerful seismic network in the world – and research institutions in the country are constantly growing it. Ocean Bottom Seismometers, which measure motion under the sea, have greatly facilitated these efforts by listening to the "rumbling" that is created when two tectonic plates meet. Such instruments have helped detect low-energy, "slow earthquakes" along oceanic trenches that we otherwise wouldn't notice.

These earthquakes, which we know are produced deep under the famous San Andreas fault, preceded the Tohoku Earthquake. They occur much more slowly than standard earthquakes. If they are associated with the underground movement of magma and hot water but they are not related to volcanoes, they are knows as "non-volcanic tremors". By comparison, big earthquakes are caused by the rupture of faults and give rise to short-lived, high-energy seismic waves.

Slow-slip earthquakes and tremors don't cause any damage on their own. However, if they coincide with very-low-frequency earthquakes they can. These are another type of slow earthquake that is caused by processes deeper down under ground than tremors and usually indicate fault motions near the dangerous area where the tectonic plates meet. If all these types of slow earthquakes take place, along the faulted zone at different depths, they could be a sign we are near to a mega-thrust earthquake.

The researchers – who investigated the Kyushu Palau Ridge, southeast of Kyushu – have, for the first time, been able to detect and map shallow tremors in correlation with the other kinds of slow earthquakes. Even more importantly, they have showed what direction all these events are moving in. This kind of detailed knowledge of seismic activity is considered one of the most reliable ways of predicting big earthquakes. 

 

http://phys.org/news/2015-05-rumbling-ocean-trenches-japan-mega.html

[magicbroom7 4]

Hope it wouldn't happen

[Dangerous Man 9,245]

Japan has already enough from the earthquake and tsunami they had just few years ago. Please don't let that happen.

 

[Didymus 34,380]

Well, I'm glad there's a high chance of lives being saved this way.

[Jed 7,716]

Or it means Godzilla is coming very soon 

[Rino 5,124]

praying for Japan

[RAMROD 117,546]

Praying for Hard Gay, Kyary, Ayumi and Utada tbh,

hope they are alright.