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Seismology

The start of something big?

Can we predict the final size of an earthquake from observations of its first few seconds? An extensive study of earthquakes around the Pacific Rim seems to indicate that we can — but uncertainties remain.

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Figure 1: Finding fault.

K. M. JOHNS/SPL

References

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Abercrombie, R. The start of something big?. Nature 438, 171–173 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/438171a

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