Replies

"What could "a stronger strike than nuclear weapons" mean?

It is possible that this could refer to an earthquake. One jihadi contributor, Abu Muhammad al-Ablaj, has been quoted as discussing the triggering of explosions along America's continental fault lines. "
___________________________________________________________

It is so hard for me to believe that this is possible. This would definitely be a stronger strike than a nuclear weapon if they could get multiple faults to activate at once. If there was anyway that they could get the Yellowstone volcano to erupt, that would be an even bigger disaster. Is that even possible? It just doesn't seem possible. Well, I guess with evil minds like AQ, anything is possible! Whew! I need a stress break! :)

It is possible that this could refer to an earthquake.

It is so hard for me to believe that this is possible.

I think it might well be possible if you choose your fault or volcano carefully and put the right amount of energy at a critical point. But the "right amount" of energy would be huge!! A large nuclear blast - possibly a chain of them for a large earthquake - would probably be necessary to trigger anything "interesting." You'd probably also have to explode it well underground - a surface explosion is unlikely to do anything. A good-sized meteor would also suffice but would be harder to arrange. :-) But how do you compute what's enough energy and how do you identify a critical structure? Seismologists have studied this for decades and it's still not a very exact science.

If you're trying to do something like that it's probably a better bet to look for unstable soil regions or a large dam that you might blow up - those could be quite nasty without taking on something as hard as what you describe. Personally I think the idea of creating large-scale earthquakes like that is just wishful thinking - the logistical problems are huge, most especially if you need to keep your preparations secret.

Dear Joy,

You want to know if you can cause the earth to crack with an explosion. In my opinion the answer is yes. No, I do not have a degree in anything other than Floral Merchandising and life.

When Mt. St Helen exploded about 25 years ago, I plotted a book of suspense (that I wanted to write) and needed to be the one who caused the volcano to erupt.

I let my writing teacher at the college convince me not to write the story. I never knew why, now suspect that it had to do with the fact that he was from Canada and didn't believe in war.

Of course, I needed to have another evil country to fill the role of bad guy.

Someone has written my story, saw it reviewed a few weeks ago. Didn't bother to keep the name in my mind.

It has given me 25 years of watching for articles on how to explode a volcano.

My story had the explosive coming in from the sea, in an under sea/mountain, via a tunnel.

A couple years after Mt. St. Helen, National Geographic did an article on the volcano and would you believe there are natural volcanic pipes coming from the volcano, under the mountain and into the ocean.

So, my fiction was proved........ LOL

In the 60's we had 10 acres near Ocotillo, Calif, with an old mobile on it for weekends (heaven), it is on the San Andreas fault for earthquakes, I would think that a major blast would cause it to move and when one of the earths plates moves, the others will also shift a bit.

Volcanos would be my worry, they contain something to come up and out.

Mines have amazing shafts, thousands of feet deep.

Digging in my memory, maybe it is the the American Rose Gold Mine, out of Glamis, Calif, near Yuma. The mountain shifted and there are still 400 Chinamen (dead) in it over a hundred years later.

They were following a ore vein on the slant and using desert tree stumps to hold the mountain up, I was there in the 1960's.

The King Of Arizona Mine off Hwy 95, between Yuma, and Quartzite, about 1970, after a week or so of heavy rain, collapsed. The whole mountain fell in the mined areas, a big hole now (1970's), half the mountain looks like it is gone.

I was there with the owner, a Dr. Burdick (sp?), if I have the name wrong, then it is the RobRoy Mine, that is the next one.

I didn't go in the hole with the rest of the group, even then, I didn't climb ropes, so the Dr. took me to the other mine and we went thru the tunnels.

So, yes, I think someone with the correct knowledge could do things to the earth. Opinion based on 40 years of trying to understand why you have an ore vein here and not over there.

They say "Gold is where you FIND it", but the simple answer is, if God wants you to find it, he will put it in your way.

Ruth

I find it hard to believe that Terroists could even try to pull this off and not be noticed. I mean come on. People would see them.

Ping

I found a book at a discount warehouse a few years ago called Hammer of Eden by Ken Follett. It was about a group of radicals who threatened to cause earthquakes in protest to a nuclear plant. They used some sort of special equipment, like a big jackhammer on flatbed, but surely explosives placed at the right points would do the trick as well.