No, they don’t. Earthquakes are on a logarithmic scale. An 8.0 releases roughly 30X the energy of a 7.0. Anybody want to live through 30 7.0’s to avoid a single 8.0? Following that scale, where a 9.0 releases 30X the energy of an 8.0, 900 earthquakes with a 7.0 magnitude would be required to release the same energy as one 9.0.
DanCongerAuthor t1_j7r5a2z wrote
Reply to Do Little Earthquakes Prevent Big Earthquakes? by cpassmore79
No, they don’t. Earthquakes are on a logarithmic scale. An 8.0 releases roughly 30X the energy of a 7.0. Anybody want to live through 30 7.0’s to avoid a single 8.0? Following that scale, where a 9.0 releases 30X the energy of an 8.0, 900 earthquakes with a 7.0 magnitude would be required to release the same energy as one 9.0.