The Americas have been ravaged by disasters this year, both the natural kind and the kind human activity facilitates. A 7.1 earthquake hit Mexico a little more than a week after they were hit with an 8.1 quake on the Richter scale. It hit in nearly the same place, near Mexico City.
I decided to investigate further. Looking at the IRIS Seismic monitor, one can see that a flurry of earthquakes have hit in succession all along the west coast of South America today. The large one hit near Mexico City and left devastation in its wake. It appears to this layman as though these particular quakes are following a path toward the state of California and The San Andreas fault.
American Fault Lines: the Ring of Fire
Fault Lines in North America appear to be linked together according to a study by Janet Watt and a team of geologists at The United States geological Survey. They made the discovery underneath the dark waters of The San Francisco Bay. David Ponce, a geologist with the group said that the longer a Fault Line stretches, the greater the earthquake it can produce. With this study, the length of the Fault Line now threatening California just doubled.
I am only speculating, but it seems to me that these earthquakes are following the Ring of Fire, a major area in the Pacific Basin where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur regularly. So, we should be keeping a close eye on these Fault Lines, just as we are on the Atlantic hurricanes.
The current Atlantic hurricanes are as devastating as they are because of mankind's activity on the planet. Like hurricanes, earthquakes used to be the sole purview of Earth. Now, it seems mankind has gotten involved there as well.
Earthquakes and hurricanes: what man hath wrought
According to The United States Geological Survey released in March of this year, the threat of damaging earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas is now similar to the earthquake dangers facing California.
However, the earthquakes in California are caused by natural phenomena. The quakes in Oklahoma and southern Kansas are the result of man’s incessant need for more fuel sources.
Yes, that’s right. The earthquakes that are being felt over large portions of Oklahoma and Southern Kansas are the result of fracking. Fracking is part of the process of natural gas drilling.
Fracking is when wastewater from natural gas drilling is pumped deep underneath the shale. The wastewater, which contains oils and other byproducts of the drilling, acts as a sort of lubricant for the shale to slide around, causing earthquakes.
Human behavior: we need to change it
I’m not a scientist and can only speculate about these man-made earthquakes and hurricanes greatly enhanced by human activity, unless of course other scientists already concur. They do. I suppose it is irrelevant how it all transpired at this point. We have some major problems to deal with as a result of our vain human behavior.
We need to change it. Imagine that Hurricane Maria, another huge hurricane, destroys Puerto Rico after Hurricane Irma demolished much of the Caribbean Islands, and Harvey devastated much of the gulf coast.
Now, imagine that a major earthquake devastates California. I submit that we as a nation might never recover, especially if Russia or North Korea chooses this time of devastation to attack us.
On the other hand, we could all do as the fundamentalists, evangelicals, and Donald Trump supporters do: stick our heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is wrong. Or, we could blame it on the gays, immigrants, and blacks. We could say, "God’s mad now." I just don't believe that that works anymore.
