Busting Seven Common Earthquake Myths, Part I
Certain earthquake myths are comforting, and some are downright alarming -- but most simply aren't true.
Do you know enough to separate earthquake myths from earthquake facts? Maybe so, but consider this: most of us have learned what we know about earthquakes by watching TV and movies -- and we all know what a fountainhead of accuracy the average Hollywood thriller is.
You might think a little inaccuracy regarding earthquakes isn't a big deal, but it never hurts to be reliably informed, just in case there's ever a quiz. In this article, we'll give you the real skinny on seven commonly-held earthquake beliefs that most of us think are true, but just ain't so.
Myth 1: Someday there's going to be a big quake, and California's going to fall into the ocean.
This may be the most pervasive earthquake myth there is, but it'll never happen. The Pacific and North American tectonic plates meet at the San Andreas fault, true enough, but they're not pulling apart -- they're sliding against each other, with the Pacific Plate moving in a northerly direction. This is what causes local earthquakes.
Someday, San Francisco and LA will be neighbors because of this lateral movement, but it'll take a few million years. The average rate of progress is 46 millimeters per year, about the same rate your fingernails grow.
Myth 2: There's such a thing as earthquake weather.
Nope -- there's no connection at all. Weather is caused by changes in the atmosphere; earthquakes are caused by geological changes that start miles underground. This earthquake myth originated with Aristotle's theory that earthquakes were caused by trapped underground winds.
Like so many of Aristotle's ideas, this one was unquestioningly accepted for thousands of years, and is still hard to shake (no pun intended), even though we know better now.
Myth 3: Earthquakes are predictable.
This earthquake myth gets a lot of play in fiction, but it simply isn't true. Despite decades of study, no one -- from Caltech geologists to so-called psychics -- can accurately predict an earthquake. Nor do scientists expect to be able to do so in the near future.
At the moment, in fact, no one has ever predicted a major earthquake; all they can do is quote the likelihood of one happening within a particular timeframe. Anyone who says otherwise without scientific proof is a charlatan, plain and simple.
But Wait, There's More!
If you think learning the truth about these earthquake myths was exciting and educational, wait until you see the next bunch in Part II of this article!
