Questions tagged [earthquake]

For questions relating to the consequences of, nature of, or creation of, earthquakes, tremors, and similar geological movements.

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How would about a dozen 50 ft to 1,400 ft (approx. 15 m to 430 m) giants wandering around a continent affect seismic activity?

8 of the giants would be around 50-100 ft (15-30 m) and only one would be 1,400 ft (430 m), the other three would be about 500-800 ft (152-243 m). Let's say that they are somehow remarkably light for ...
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How would giant creatures that "live" underground shifting their limbs affect seismic activity

Please excuse me if I make any mistakes, this is my first post here. If there were giant creatures, ranging anywhere from 20,000 square miles (approx. 30,100 square km) to 100,000 square miles (approx....
Sannaco's user avatar
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2 answers
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How do I determine the locations and strength of earthquakes using a fictional tectonic plate arrangement?

I've got a world that I made using a combination of star system and plate tectonics simulations via a variety of programs. I've used this to build plenty of overlays for my world map—plate boundaries, ...
Meep the Changeling's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
346 views

Construction and architecture in a world with regular earthquakes?

I'm working on a fantasy story that takes place on a moon that orbits a gas giant, but is not tidally locked. I've worked through a lot of the other considerations of this already—the wider astronomy ...
morningknight's user avatar
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3 answers
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Earthquake-prone civilisation — could floating cities be the answer?

This question is fairly self-explanatory. The civilisation in my story is in an earthquake-prone area due to lots of tectonic plates. Could using magic to make their cities levitate and thus not be ...
villain_l's user avatar
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Energy generation via seismic activity

In my world, there are small, micro earthquakes that move through the landscape - the kind of thing that you can feel rumbling beneath your feet, but not much more severe - usually. In areas near ...
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What (natural) phenomenon could cause an earthquake on O'neill cylinder?

There is an O'Neill cylinder about 10,000km long and 10km wide in diameter orbiting a blue giant star. The crew on board have been complaining about the tremors or sometimes a powerful 6.8 magnitude ...
user6760's user avatar
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How feasible/widespread would arcology/underground structures be on an highly tectonic world?

It is pretty much guaranteed that my world would have very intense tectonic activity, plus it would be about 23% smaller than the earth and I have been wondering how that would influence the ...
JuimyTheHyena's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
419 views

Could a tsunami separate two landmasses?

I posed here a question about a super-earthquake separating a Pangaea-like continent in a matter of days. Unfortunately, one of the answers rightfully points out that such an earthquake would generate ...
Pedro Gabriel's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
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What are the architectural/design/etc implications of earthquakes on a snowball planet?

Thick, kilometer-wide ice sheets cover the vast majority of this planet. Snow is comparatively limited, because there are limited places where anything actually melts and re-enters the water cycle. ...
Laura's user avatar
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Could earthquake cancellation work?

Imagine we could scale up noise cancellation technology in earphones and apply it to earthquake prone zone, what challenges beside engineering and cost would make such a machine impossible to realise?...
user6760's user avatar
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If a world had a massive single giant world tree could it stop an earthquake?

You know stuff like Yggdrasil tree but just a normal tree that is the biggest and tallest in the world. If the roots grow to surpass the continental and oceanic plate either it only cover some parts ...
Li Jun's user avatar
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11 votes
5 answers
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What could trigger powerful quakes on icy world?

Imagine a planet orbiting a star some billions of lightyears away from us, the planet is 4 times the mass of Earth and is covered with ice 100km thick on average. It is believed that liquid ocean ...
user6760's user avatar
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How might a naturally-occuring geographical barrier between two areas *suddenly* become permeable so that a few people can cross it?

The world is Earth, probably west coast of the USA, in the throes of severe climate disaster; major storms, earthquakes, droughts, fires and floods are the norm. I am looking for a way to suddenly ...
olive banks's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
798 views

World in drought - How long does it take for a forest to die without water?

In my world a powerful earthquake produces an opening in the tectonic plates and changes the geography of an entire continent. Most of the great rivers deviate from their courses or disappear, leaving ...
Hedufigo's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
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A ravine ~15 miles (~ 24 km) deep on average opens up in the Himalayas. Do we survive?

A ravine the size of the Mediterranean in area and ~15 miles (~ 24 km) deep on average opens up over the course of a few days in the Himalayas. A size comparison of the Mediterranean Sea to the U.S. ...
MageGuy's user avatar
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How can the human race disappear in a few days? [duplicate]

Is it possible to eradicate the human race in one week? And if yes, by which way? Of course, the human race should do everything to survive. What could be more powerful than our will to survive? 1. ...
MathieuL's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
183 views

A Worldwide Wave

What would have to happen for a giant tidal wave to wash its way around an entire planet? The planet can be like earth, with the same size, mass, and everything else. However the wave must start ...
LargeDan69's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
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Earthquake modeling on a fictitious extraterrestrial moon

Thanks in advance for any input you can provide! I have a moon called Vieneo http://www.risetvp.com/Vieneo which has some geological modelling of faults and epicenters over some range of time: What ...
Jason Reskin's user avatar
22 votes
12 answers
5k views

Can a rogue nation trigger an earthquake?

In a story I'm working on, a rogue nation-state has decided to attack another country. They want to make the attack seem more natural, though, and so they've decided to trigger an earthquake. This ...
HDE 226868's user avatar
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Bendable Construction Material

I need to find a construction material with the following properties: 1) Flexibility: The material should be able to bend itself 90 to 180 degrees. This property is needed to survive an earthquake ...
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