When an earthquake happens. Could it affect the other fault lines like madrid?

Question

eathquake

Answer 1

If the earthquake happened in the New Madrid seismic zone, then yes - it could trigger other quakes there. However, the idea that a big quake in California or some other far-away location could trigger a quake in New Madrid is totally absurd. If that were the case, then recent great earthquakes (Magnitude 8.0+) like the 2004 Sumatra EQ or the 2006 Peru EQ would have triggered other faults all over the world.

An earthquake will cause redistribution of stresses within the crust in the immediate vicinity of the ruptured fault. That's why there are always aftershocks following a large earthquake. However, the stress redistribution appears to attenuate rather quickly as you move away from the hypocenter. That's why aftershocks tend to be located very close to the location of the main shock. The only way that you could get stress redistribution over a very large area is if the fault rupture itself occurred over a very large area, such as in the case of the 2004 Sumatra earthquake. But even then, aftershocks were limited to the subduction zone fault where the main shock occurred.

Answer 2

If the second fault were a part of the same fault system as the fault on which the original earthquake occured, or if the original earthquake were powerful enough that it was felt as far away as the area around the second fault, then yes, it could trigger an earthquake along that second fault.

Answer 3

Yes.  The world is a living organization just like the human body.  Each part has come cause and effect on all the other parts, however small.

Answer 4

actually...

it depends in the place where the earthquake had happen...

for example, an earthquake happened in Japan.... if the fault in that place is connected in the fault in Korea it may affect Korea........ that's it!!!

Answer 5

USGS ENS  2008-07-29 20:56:23 (Mb 5.6) SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE -54.7 -118.8 03:00 3KB

     USGS ENS  2008-07-29 18:42:15 (Ml 5.6) GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIF.. 34.0 -117.8  

See the 2 incidents. Just in two hours there was an another earthquake recorded at southern east pacific. The latitudes almost concides.That means it has happenned in the straight line. Any thing may happen.Nothing is perfectly predictable.