[djf]

3.3 in Washington state about 2 hours ago, depth 26KM, location about 12 miles from the epicenter of the Nisqually quake (south Puget Sound)

[bd476]

USGS picture demonstrates the size of the fault patch of the December 2004 catastrophic Sumatra 9.0 quake by comparing it to the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Comparable Rupture Area

(Comparison of size of fault patch in:) Magnitude 9.0 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:49 UTC

This is only a comparison graph used in
demonstrating the relative size of the December 2004 9.0 Sumatra quake.



"When an earthquake occurs, it ruptures a patch along a fault. Generally speaking, the larger the earthquake magnitude, the larger the rupture patch.

Initial estimates, based on the distribution of aftershocks, suggest that the magnitude 9.0 Sumatra-Andaman Islands Earthquake ruptured a fault patch roughly the size of the entire Cascadia Subduction Zone (see map above) that extends under northern California, Oregon, Washington, and southern British Colombia.

Initial modeling of the seismic waves suggests that most of the slip occurred in the southern 400 kilometers of the fault rupture. For comparison, a magnitude 5 earthquake would rupture a patch roughly the size of New York City's Central Park."

USGS Comparable Rupture Area