For seismologists, the vast disparity between the human lifespan and the timescales over which geological processes operate is not just a conceptual problem, but also a practical one. One of their most important tasks is to assess the “seismic hazard” – a probabilistic estimate of the severity of ground shaking from an earthquake an area is likely to experience over the next 50 or 100 years (the USGS have some good background on this) – useful information to have when considering where, and how strongly, to build high-rise buildings, bridges, or nuclear power plants. However, to accurately estimate this risk, you not only need to know where all the faults are, you also need to have some idea of their past form: how often do they rupture? How severe were the earthquakes when they did?
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For lot's more videos on soil moisture topics, see Drs Selker and Or's text-book support videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoMb5YOZuaGtn8pZyQMSLuQ/playlists
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Nice plan for content warnings on Mastodon and the Fediverse. Now you need a Mastodon/Fediverse button on this blog.