Why Do So Many Big Earthquakes Strike Japan?

Live Science ^ | 11/22/2016 | Denise Chow

[JimSEA]

A magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck yesterday off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, likely along the same fault that ruptured in 2011, unleashing a massive 9.0-magnitude temblor that triggered deadly tsunamis and caused widespread destruction. Over the course of its history, Japan has seen its share of shaking, but what makes this part of the world so susceptible to big earthquakes?

The answer has to do with Japan's location. The island nation lies along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an imaginary horseshoe-shaped zone that follows the rim of the Pacific Ocean, where many of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. In fact, 81 percent of the world's largest earthquakes happen in this active belt, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). [Image Gallery: This Millennium's Destructive Earthquakes]

[JimSEA]

"The Earth's surface is broken up into about a dozen or so major chunks that are all moving around. Where they all interact at their edges, interesting things happen," Douglas Given, a geophysicist with the USGS in Pasadena, California, previously told Live Science.

The New Zealand quake also involved multiple plate boundaries.

[BenLurkin]

ibtgr

[PIF]

Ring of Fire ring any bells?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Because it sucks.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Pacific rim. Just look at earthquake maps.

[Axenolith]

Ah, because it’s an island arc formed by a subduction zone? Duh...

[HerrBlucher]

It burns burns burns

[Scythian_Reborn]

In before Godzilla !!!!

[Cboldt]

It’s tipping over due to overpopulation.

[mountn man]

Why Do So Many Big Earthquakes Strike Japan?

[RayChuang88]

Ah, because it’s an island arc formed by a subduction zone? Duh...

Correct. The Indonesian Archipelago is the same way, and so is off the west coast of North America from Eureka, CA all the way to the north end of Vancouver Island.

[HerrBlucher]

The fact that the active faults are dip-slip aggravates the situation. You not only get destructive ground motion but but tsunami’s generated by upward/downward movement offshore. Its a double whammy.

[Calvin Locke]

Horrible article title. “They” should have dropped the “Do “ and the replaced the “?” with a period, and turned it into a statement.

[SuziQ]

Because, plate tectonics!

[Reily]

Building your civilization on a major subduction zone can yield some bad days!

[dfwgator]

That’s why the Japanese were always invading China and Korea.

[Reily]

Yep !

[NormsRevenge]

Karma.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Because it sits on the ring of fire.

[dfwgator]

Because it sits on the ring of fire.

And it burns....burns....burns.....