Unusual?? M 4.0, off coast of Cairns, Aistralia

[D-Day]

Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/9015805/4-0-magnitude-quake-hits-far-north-qld/

I know this is a relatively small earthquake considering what we have been witnessing around the world over the past few weeks but I thought this was worth posting nonetheless. Reason being, is that Cairns is situated on the far North coast of Queensland in Australia and as far as I'm aware there are no known fault lines in that region.

Now I'm no expert when it comes to earthquakes so this might be a really stupid question but can anybody explain to me how it is possible for an earthquake of this size to occur in a region that isn't close to any major fault lines??

Is this an unusual occurrence or something that is relatively common??

[OnyxKnight]

Reason being, is that Cairns is situated on the far North coast of Queensland in Australia and as far as I'm aware there are no known fault lines in that region.

Now I'm no expert when it comes to earthquakes so this might be a really stupid question but can anybody explain to me how it is possible for an earthquake of this size to occur in a region that isn't close to any major fault lines??

Is this an unusual occurrence or something that is relatively common??

I did say in my thread that Northern Australia is going to be hit.

This is just "testing the waters".


This is just the beginning. More will come. Some weaker, some as strong.

Asia, Indonesia, & Northern Australia proposed as most affected.

Its not a test anymore. They're serious in what they are doing now.

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?16250-More-Will-Come-...

If you regard artificially induced earthquakes unusual occurrence, than yes, it is unusual.

[Teakai]

Hi D-Day - that's what I thought. That earthquakes only happened along faultlines, but there was one in Western Australia a while back - I think it was around the time those suspicious signals were seen on the weather map. - Sounds fishy, huh?

Anyway - I went and checked 2 earthquake maps for the earthquake you mentioned and neither registered an earthquake on the mainland or anywhere near where Cairns would be affected.

So - how weird is that?

[Shikasta]

Hi Teakai, try this one for recent earthquakes measured by Geological Services Australia (GSA). You should see the one off Innisfail listed. Strangely, it is listed at a depth of 0km!?

http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/listQuakes

Graeme

[Teakai]

Hi Teakai, try this one for recent earthquakes measured by Geological Services Australia (GSA). You should see the one off Innisfail listed. Strangely, it is listed at a depth of 0km!?

http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/listQuakes

Graeme

Thanks Shikasta - definitely no fault line there. Not on any of the maps anyway. And it is strange that it's listed at 0km.

[D-Day]

@Teakai

Tell me about it... I could be completely wrong here but I always thought earthquakes tended to occur on/or near the tectonic plate fault lines.

Onyxknight eluded to the fact that HAARP technology might be responsible for this particular quake (and others), however I'm not yet convinced about these theories. Although with that said, my opinion on this may change if the quake near Cairns turns out to be some kind of strange anomaly. IF it was considered to be an unusual event because of its location in relation to fault lines (or lack thereof), then this would definitely add more credibility to the PTB/HAARP theory.

So, I'd really like to hear from someone who can offer some scientific insight regarding whether or not this quake would be considered "unusual" or not.

Who knows... maybe I'm just getting a little too caught up in all the hype ;)

Anyone???

[Teakai]

I checked the Australian quake map this morning at around 8:45 and there was nothing new there from when I looked at it yesterday. I went and checked it just now and there's a small earthquake that's been recorded in Hammond S.A AEST: 14 March 2011 @ 01:28:07

Now either they are really slack at getting their data up or something is up, because that was not there this morning.

[astrid]

http://www.ga.gov.au/earthquakes/

This link has a map view

http://www.ga.gov.au/earthquakes/initRecentQuakes.do

Map with List.

It is curious that quakes listed vary so much from site to site.

[Teakai]

Hi Astrid - I was using the top map.

[panopticon]

G'day D-Day,

In relation to your questions:


I know this is a relatively small earthquake considering what we have been witnessing around the world over the past few weeks but I thought this was worth posting nonetheless. Reason being, is that Cairns is situated on the far North coast of Queensland in Australia and as far as I'm aware there are no known fault lines in that region.
Now I'm no expert when it comes to earthquakes so this might be a really stupid question but can anybody explain to me how it is possible for an earthquake of this size to occur in a region that isn't close to any major fault lines??
Is this an unusual occurrence or something that is relatively common??

It is not uncommon for earthquake events to occur away from tectonic boundaries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake#Earthquakes_away_from_plate_boundaries).
They are referred to as Intraplate earthquakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intraplate_earthquake).
Remember that not all faults (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fault_(geology)) occur at tectonic boundaries.
Your questions have also been answered here:
Do major earthquakes only occur on or near fault lines (http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090320200514AAnWzfK)?
and here:
How do earthquakes happen in Australia without being near Tectonic Plates (http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100421040252AAKytbM)?
I remember the Meckering Earthquake (http://www.seismicity.see.uwa.edu.au/welcome/seismicity_of_western_australia/wa_historical/meckering) which was one of the worst recorded in Australia.
Here is a list of earthquakes recorded in Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Australia) (I'd also like to point out that many predate HAARP).
So while earthquakes occur more frequently at the tectonic boundaries it is quite possible for the to occur along faults not near these, though at a much lower frequency.

Kind Regards, :yo:
Panopticon

[witchy1]

Heres the thing, Tony got home round 4.30am (he drives nights - so wasn't pissed) and he reakons the ground moved a bit around that time. Just small, couple of little jolts. Hmm I could see nothing anywhere. We are on 1st floor of complex

Anyone else in Syndey up round then????

ADDIT: just tried to fill out the "report an earthquake" on that link....... page not found

[D-Day]

Hi panoptocon,

Thanks very much for shedding some light on the situation.

Your information is greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Dan