[gscraig]

I have now looked at data going back to 1973 at this point, and the 55 1st quarter quakes (6.0+ mag) for 2010 are the highest we've had since that year (37 years). However, in 1996 there was a total of 50 1st quarter quakes, but there was also a total of 5,739 total earthquakes compared to the total earthquakes of 3,631 for 2010. So basically, we reached 55 1st quarter quakes that were 6.0+ magnitude with 2,108 less activity/quakes than 1996 which triggered 50 quakes.

Essentially, what this means, is that we are not seeing so much of an abnormal amount of quakes or for this time of year, but we seem to be seeing an increase in intensity and different areas of activity all triggering from a smaller number of total quakes. If you look at the previously posted data for 2008. We had 49 6.0+ mag quakes in the first quarter, that was part of a total 7,315 1st quarter earthquakes. Comparing that to 2010, it took 3,684 more quakes in 2008 than in 2010 to generate at least 49 6.0+ mag quakes.

2010- 55 6.0+ magnitude quakes out of a total of 3,631
2008- 49 6.0+ magnitude quakes out of a total of 7,315 (+3,684 compared to 2010)
1996- 50 6.0+ magnitude quakes out of a total of 5,739 (+2,108 compared to 2010)

I myself would prefer more quakes with less intensity, than fewer quakes with higher intensity any day..So, the saga continues…