Earthquakes in diverse places

Jesus told the Apostles that the times of the end would be typified by birth pangs relating to, among many other things, earthquakes in diverse places. This week has seen an unusual amount of earthquakes. These tremors are occurring not just as earthquakes but other, inexplicable earth form events that have scientists perplexed. Let's begin with the more mundane of the events, regular old earthquakes.

There have been quite a number of 6.0 plus magnitude earthquakes around the world this week. Easter Island to Baffin Bay, Rat Islands Alaska to Panama to the Gulf of California. China experienced a 6.0 that collapsed 10,000 homes, damaged 40,000 and caused much other havoc. There were some serious injuries but so far thankfully, no deaths.

In addition to the strong earthquakes in diverse places this week, two highly unusual events have also occurred. One is that scientists have detected mysterious tremors deep under the San Andreas Fault in California.

Mysterious tremors detected on San Andreas Fault
"Scientists have detected a spike in underground rumblings on a section of California's San Andreas Fault that produced a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in 1857. " Uh-oh, that's not good. The article goes on: "What these mysterious vibrations say about future earthquakes is far from certain. But some think the deep tremors suggest underground stress may be building up faster than expected and may indicate an increased risk of a major temblor." Well, we know that there will be earthquakes as there have always been earthquakes but typical of the end times, they will increase in size and frequency as birth pangs always do...

"Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, monitored seismic activity on the fault's central section between July 2001 and February 2009 and recorded more than 2,000 tremors. The tremors lasted mere minutes to nearly half an hour." The tremors are at a level that is twice as high as before the 6.5 magnitude 2003 quake. The fact that the tremors haven't gone down means the time to the next earthquake may come sooner," said Berkeley seismologist and lead researcher Robert Nadeau." All scientists do know is deep tremors appear to have foreshadowed large 2004 quake. Time will tell what God will do.

Other weird earthform activity is occurring up in Alaska. People living near Homer and visiting Bluff Point today were stunned to find a dramatic change in the beach. Where, the day before, beachcombers had a long flat beach in which to stroll, the very next day a 1,000 foot long bluff reaching 20 feet high greeted them. No one knows why.

'Uplift' baffles scientists, transforms area beach

"Like a giant fist punching through the earth, a 1,000-foot long section of the beach below Bluff Point rose up 20 feet from the tidelands sometime last Friday or late Thursday, pushing boulders up from the ocean bottom, cracking sandstone slabs and toppling rocks upside down. Below Bluff Point, a new fissure opened up at the base of the 800-foot high cliff."

Scientists don't know exactly what caused the uplift. It would take an earthquake over magnitude 7 to cause an uplift that high, said Peter Haeussler, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage. "I have no idea," he said when he first learned of the uplift. "This sounds really, really bizarre."

Why yes. Yes it does. You know, it kind of reminds me of the Corn Field Volcano that erupted in front if a guy plowing back in 1943. One minute, field, next morning, Volcano!

Though Mount Redoubt volcano has been extremely active, scientists do not attribute the mysterious uplift at Homer across the bay to be connected. Scientists have also ruled out an earthquake as the cause. Haeussler said, "You would have felt a huge earthquake if it was earthquake related." Hmmm. Stay tuned.