Why wait until there is a quake. Surely with all the scientific knowledge, this can be prevented.
2006-07-01 16:36:08 · 5 answers · asked by suz 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
It's not local. The energy is spread along entire fault lines. Think of two saw blades locked against each other. Nothing will move until those teeth slip. When they do, the earth can jump inches or feet at a time. But breaking a single tooth won't do anything.
2006-07-02 13:04:58 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Um, there is a matter of scale. Tectonic plates are scraping up against each other, and it is not currently possible to pry them apart across the whole San Andreas fault so that they can move freely.
Suppose you had a way of doing that, and the resulting slippage caused an earthquake with 100 million dollars of damage. There would be a number of lawyers looking for the person who did it.
2006-07-01 23:45:19 · answer #2 · answered by Computer Guy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That fault is a transverse fault...two crustal plates sliding past opne another so, the pressure that builds and is released in an earth quake is not possilbe to be released by drilling....Its not like a volcanoe where the top blows becauce of pressure build up in the caldera it is much more complicated.
2006-07-01 23:41:10 · answer #3 · answered by C-man 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Denver several years ago they experimented with some very deep wells and injecting water in it. They found that they could control (start/stop) earthquakes there.
If they tried it in the San Andreas, their well might be the catalyst that would set off "the Big One". No one wants to do that.
2006-07-01 23:45:36 · answer #4 · answered by Lindasue 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
we can't drill holes that deep.
and if we could, the hole would turn into a volcano, killing all the drilling people and destroying their equipment
2006-07-01 23:40:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋