For the sake of some interesting conversation here, is it at all POSSIBLE that the use of heavy explosives underground could set off an earthquake (i.e. underground testing of nuclear weapons)?
BTW, I'm a conservative and NOT an environmentalist. I'm just interested in hearing opinions here if anyone here is knowledgeable in geology.
It's possible. But one would have to know where the most stress is on the fault. Even if you were able to know that, you would need to know alot about the surrounding geology.
I've done alot of exploding of stuff underground. And no matter how many times you've done it before, logic and experience are almost useless. The rock breaks and shears the way the rock wants to break and shear.
It's utterly amazing what you see down there. The types of rocks (even in an igneous/amorphic zone like we're working in) is incredible. And the shears where whole faces of rock disappear or have been shifted out of site are amazing.
I'm talking slates/quartzites/andesites/granedosites (and even limestone) near Yosemite.
And a tiny, tiny amount of gold/silver/molybdenum.
I seem to remember a guy proposing that we set off explosives to help the San Andreas fault relieve strain in a series of very small quakes, rather than store up strain for a giant quake. Couldn't be done, not enough bombs in the world, couldn't get them deep enough, etc. Very quickly debunked by real geophysicists.
Next to the raw power of the planet, all of man's explosives are little more than bubbles in the tub, so to speak.
The epicenter of this particular quake, caused by the Indo-Aussi plate diving under the European one at a rate of 6cm a year was 6 miles down under the ocean. While theoretically possible in exactly the right area, using exactly the right explosives, it's not bloody likely. This is a planet we live on, not a soap bubble. The region gets hit by major quakes and major tsunamis that kill thousands every few years. These things happen when the surface you live on happens to be floating around on an extremely hot, dense ocean of molten rock.