Trivia Central!

firebombmarkus

I know @SeraphicStar Since I am in Europe it is quite familiar to me 😊

SeraphicStar

Aw @firebombmarkus I thought I picked a good one... Okay let's hear some rousing trivia from you then

firebombmarkus

@SeraphicStar Here is a little bit about earthquakes. I was just watching a documentary about it.

The world's largest earthquake with an instrumentally documented magnitude occurred on May 22, 1960 near Valdivia, in southern Chile. It was assigned a magnitude of 9.5 by the United States Geological Survey. It is referred to as the "Great Chilean Earthquake" and the "1960 Valdivia Earthquake."

SeraphicStar

Wow @firebombmarkus that is both informative and a bit frightening considering the power an earthquake of that magnitude could have...

I have a bit more trivia to share regarding how scientists measure earthquakes, but you probably already know these. 😒

So everyone has probably heard of the Richter Scale. However, let's delve a bit into its origins, and how it works shall we? 🤔

In the 1930's a gentleman by the name of Dr. Charles Richter invented this scale of measurement for earthquakes. It's a measure of the largest seismic wave recorded on a particular kind of seismograph located 100 kilometers (or about 62 miles) from the epicenter of the earthquake.

There are also a few other scales that are used to measure earthquakes. One being the "Mercalli Scale" and the other being the "Moment Magnitude Scale".

I don't pretend to know all this stuff though I found it from a website that sounded pretty legitimate

wafercookieflippers

“Soil liquefaction” can take place after an earthquake disrupts loose soil with a high water content. It changes the pressure on the water, which causes the soil to suddenly become like water itself. Once the pressure is restored, the solid goes back to its solid state. Unfortunately, whatever was on top of the soil before it liquified has now sunk down into it (like quicksand) and is completely or partially buried. This makes objects look like they are buried in solid ground.

I watched a really interesting show where they were finding tons of dinosaur bones at one particular spot. They speculated that the soil liquefaction occurred at this site which may have been a huge watering hole. The earthquake struck and turned the solid ground to liquid sand, only to harden again when the poor dinosaurs were too far buried to get themselves out. What a sad ending! But I learned about soil liquefaction. I wish I could remember what the show was....

SeraphicStar

Wow that's some really neat stuff there @wafercookieflippers! See this is why I love this thread we need to get more people in here sharing crazy facts like this!

mysticalmysty

Speaking of Earth Disasters, in 1883 Krakatoa or Krakatau in Indonesia is still the biggest eruption on the history of this planet. The explosion was so violent that they were heard 3,110 km ( 1930 mi ) in Perth, Western Australia and the island of Rodriquez in Mauritius 4,800 km ( 3000 mi ) away. The eruption was almost completely destroyed the whole island leaving the death of estimated 36.500 reported. The sound of the eruption was so loud it was reported if anyone was within16 km ( 10 mi ) they would’ve gone deaf. Average global temperatures fell by as much 1.2 C ( 2.2 F ) after the eruption and didn’t return to normal until 5 years later. Up to this date Krakatau still remain active. 

SeraphicStar

Wow that's pretty neat, also some silly trivia related to this that most of you likely know is that in an episode of Spongebob the character Squidward says "Krakatoa" dressed up as the "superhero" Captain Magma:

mysticalmysty

Haha...  I love spongebob @SeraphicStar

firebombmarkus

I love him too ❤️ @SeraphicStar @mysticalmysty