[May 12, 2008 ECB] This Great Quake emerged as a simple fault snap, suddenly and without warning. Although it struck in an earthquake prone area of Southeast Eurasia, far inland from subduction zones, the quake had no major pre-cursors in the area, unlike the recent large quake near Japan. Following this quake large aftershocks continue to shake the area as frequently as every 15 minutes. Existing metrics as of Monday morning which describe this quake are likely very inaccurate. This inner continental quake has killed perhaps ten(s) of thousands but the numbers will likely rapidly rise like the still on-going disaster in Myanmar.

Pre cursors for this quake can be identified if the range of view is expanded to most of continental Eurasia. On Saturday and Sunday (Arizona Mountain Time) most world quake activity 4+ ranged through the southern tier of Eurasia in the broad belt which ranges from the Eastern Mediterranean through to Southeast Asia and accross the Sichuan area to as far as Taiwan. From this perspective, the Sichuan quake is obviously part of a major tectonic "adjustment" in the shape of Eurasia, most likely forced by vectors from the Southern Hemisphere, ranging from the northeastern movements of Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Australian tectonic plates.

The quake in Sichuan most likely was also partly created by the forces in the Pacific Plate. Sichuan area is at a vector angle of 170 degrees or greater to the Pacific Plate, which has quite obviously moving at an accelerated pace during the past 30 days. This rapidly moving (relatively speaking) ocean bottom plate has created both Class 7 quakes and volcanic eruptions around the Pacific Rim during the past few months, most especially during the past 30 days.

Most likely a major factor in the motion of the Pacific Ocean bottom is an accleration of rifting (spreading of the Earth's crust) in the East Pacific Rise portion of the Great Rift which snakes around the Earth at the bottoms of the oceans. The acceleration of spreading has been evident for the past few months. It is likely releasing far more heat into the bottom of the East Pacific than normal and this may be the "gating" phase which will produce the next El Nino, which is likely to emerge into visibility during the latter part of 2008 and last through the first half of 2009. Ironically, then, the Great Quakes in Japan and China this past week may be heralds of record-breaking El Nino year soon to come.

http://www.michaelmandeville.com/

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