Why or why not???
Chosen Answer:
Definitely, until the divergent boundaries we know stop, or if new divergent boundaries form elsewhere. The reason why Japan experiences earthquakes so frequently compared to many other areas of the Earth is because of plate tectonics. The Pacific Plate is speeding into the Eurasian Plate (by speeding I mean relative to the other plates, some move slower). Japan’s land above the ocean is actually attributed to this collision, and this is why Japan has some very famous and active volcanos (I wont go into the deep geology as to why this is, but its because the pacific plate is sliding under the Eurasian Plate).
This will continue as long as convection in the Earth continues, so a rough estimate would be billions of years, I can’t say when the radioactive decay deep within the Earth will stop, but yes, Japan will experience earthquakes for a long time, and also, tsunamis which often come after.
The sad thing is, we are no where near predicting when earthquakes will occur, at this point they are just far too complex
by: Eric
on: 15th June 13