Following the 12th May China earthquake there have been over 100 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 +?

Question

Although aftershocks are normal for earthquakes, from checking the USGS site there appear to be more aftershocks following this earthquake than typical. is this just a result of the type of earthquake, or is it just that the earthquake on the 12th May released the plate and this plate is now moving more freely. The aftershocks have now been rumbling on for 24 days with a 5.3 quake today (05th June) plus two additional quakes during the past 24hrs

Answer 1

The size and number of aftershocks is dependent on several factors. First the bigger the quake, usually there are more aftershocks and they are fairly large quakes in of themselves. Since these quakes are associated with a continent to continent collision, it is possible that a considerable of stress had built up. Releasing this stress can produce a situation where the fault is able to move more freely now til it reaches a point where the stress is low enough that the friction on the fault will stabilize it.

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