The interdisciplinary team from Northwestern University found that so-called "slow" earthquakes potentially lead to "regular" earthquakes. Slow earthquakes release energy at a gradual rate, stretching from hours to several months. What we consider to be regular earthquakes release energy much faster and suddenly.

The researchers' findings could help seismologists and geologists to narrow down a time frame when a major earthquake could occur.

"While the build-up of stress in the Earth's crust is largely predictable, stress release via regular earthquakes is more chaotic in nature, which makes it challenging to predict when they might occur," explains data science scholar Kevin Chao, who works in the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems and is the study's first author. "But in recent years, more and more research has found that large earthquakes in subduction zones are often preceded by foreshocks and slow earthquakes."

The researchers examined a region in Taiwan that has over 100 seismic stations that have continuously recorded ground motion for years. They found deep tremors there, slow earthquakes that recur in cycles days or weeks long. To detect and monitor these deep tremors, Chao and his team created highly sophisticated algorithms and applied them to data collected from ten of the seismic stations in the area. They noticed deviations in the deep tremors' behavior in the weeks leading up to Taiwan's major earthquake in March 2010.

"After the 6.4-magnitude earthquake occurred, we noticed a potential to study deep tremor near the event," says Chao. "We identified the increase in tremor duration three weeks before the earthquake, but we initially could not draw conclusions because tremor rates increase all the time and for different reasons."

But three years later, by comparing data from other seismic stations and earth observatories, like global positioning satellites, with their statistics and algorithms, the team showed that deep tremor pattern changes could signal an impending earthquake nearby. To be sure, the authors looked at four other earthquakes and found similar preexisting conditions and patterns ahead of the quakes.

They hope the findings will lead to more interest in their theory and perhaps to better quake predictions in the future.

"Much more data analysis of these tiny but fascinating tremor signals is necessary," says Chao, "before mid- to short-term earthquake forecasting become reliable."

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Artemis II Mission Around the Moon Reminds All of Us to Look Up

Chick-fil-A Urges Families to Put Down Phones at the Dinner Table; You'll Get Free Ice Cream

Don't Be Fooled: Deadly Fentanyl-Laced Pills Look Just Like the Real Ones

Anti-ICE Activists Target Minnesota Church Again on Easter Sunday

Finnish Study Links Transgender Procedures to Decline in Youth Mental Health

Trump's Education Dept Tosses Title IX Agreements That Pushed 'Transgender Agenda' in Multiple Schools

Trump Confirms US Sent Guns to Iranian People, But the Kurdish Intermediary Kept Many of Them

'Disgusting Animals': Iran's Islamic Terrorist Regime Calls for People, Including Children, to Gather as Human Shields around Power Plants

Why the Resurrection of Jesus Is the Most Important Event in History

President Trump Cited the Gospel of John in an Easter Message to Christians Worldwide

Artemis Astronaut Offers Easter Thoughts About the Bible and God's Provision for Humans

School Suspends Student For Supporting ICE Agents, after Allowing a Protest Against ICE

The 'Moment California Has Been Waiting For'; Trump Endorses Steve Hilton for Governor

Boise Removes LGBT 'pride' Flag from City Hall Due to New Idaho Law

Democrats Sue Over Trump's Executive Order on Mail-in Ballots

'God Was Watching Us': Trump, Ratcliffe, Hegseth Detail 'Miracle' Rescue of Airmen during Press Conference; 2 Top Iranian Terrorists Killed

An Easter Miracle!! 2nd Crew Member from Downed Jet in Iran Rescued and Safely Extracted after Intense Race to Reach Him before IRGC Terrorists

PRAYER ALERT: US F-15 Fighter Jet Downed in SW Iran, 1 Pilot Rescued and Safe; Search Continues for Second One

Dutch Sheets: Good Friday Message & Communion

'I Began to Pray': Pastor Talks Down Crazed Man Who Points Gun Directly at Him, Leads 10 to Christ