The Ring Of Fire Is Roaring To Life And There Will Be Earthquakes Of Historic Importance On The West Coast Of The United States

Does it seem to you like there has been an unusual amount of seismic activity around the world lately?  Well, it isn't just your imagination.  The Ring of Fire is roaring to life and that is really bad news for the west coast of the United States.  Approximately 90 percent of all earthquakes and approximately 75 percent of all volcanic eruptions occur along the Ring of Fire.  Considering the fact that the entire west coast of the United States lies along the Ring of Fire, we should be very concerned that the Ring of Fire is becoming more active.  On Wednesday, the most powerful strike-slip earthquake ever recorded happened along the Ring of Fire.  If that earthquake had happened in a major U.S. city along the west coast, the city would have been entirely destroyed.  Scientists tell us that there is nearly a 100% certainty that the "Big One" will hit California at some point.  In recent years we have seen Japan, Chile, Indonesia and New Zealand all get hit by historic earthquakes.  It is inevitable that there will be earthquakes of historic importance on the west coast of the United States as well.  So far we have been very fortunate, but that good fortune will not last indefinitely.


In a previous article, I showed that earthquakes are becoming more frequent around the globe.  In 2001, there were 137 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater and in 2011 there were 205.  The charts and data that I presented in that previous article show a clear upward trend in large global earthquakes over the past decade, and that is why what happened this week is so alarming.

On Wednesday, a magnitude 8.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia and that was rapidly followed by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia.  Fortunately those gigantic earthquakes did not produce a devastating tsunami, but that doesn't mean that those earthquakes were not immensely powerful.

Normally we only see about one earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or greater per year.  The magnitude 8.6 earthquake was the most powerful strike-slip earthquake in recorded history.  If that earthquake had happened in the United States, it would have probably been the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

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