Chapter 3, Problem 1TC

To determine

The difficulties that complicated the attempts of scientists to predict earthquakes.

Answer to Problem 1TC

Some of the difficulties that made the prediction of earthquake a tough goal include the earthquake magnitude, the difficulty to perform sampling and the vicinity of faults, and the– inconsistency in the composition of crust. The scientists followed many different methods to achieve the objective of earthquake prediction, unfortunately nothing functioned steadily.

Explanation of Solution

The prediction of earthquakes has been a kind of aspiration for over decades to most of the geologists. They adopted various methodologies in order to accomplish their ambition. The quantities of radon present in the well water have been examined in researches, believing that because of the building up of stress and accumulation of small fractures along a fault would initiate the migration of the naturally-arising radioactive gas, radon to the adjacent wells. The scientists have cut apart faults through digging and boring, however could not identify any precursor distortion.

They even supervised the already recognized faults for about decades, such as that of the San Andreas Fault at Parkfield, California, with the anticipation to obtain precursor signals that could include vibrations, small slips, or other anomalies, which may be predictive. However, none of the methods has worked reliably so far.

The difficulty of sampling close to the faults, particularly the submerged faults, the magnitude of earthquakes, and the inconsistency of crustal composition are some of the factors that turn the reliable earthquake prediction into a hard task.