The most powerful Earthquakes recorded in history occurred at subduction zones like the Tohoku earthquake in Japan (2011) or the Valvidia earthquake in Chile (1965) which produced the strongest earthquake in history. I’ve seen that most subduction zone earthquakes reach magnitudes greater than 9 so why can’t non-subduction zone fault lines or other regular fault lines like the San Andreas fault produce earthquakes of the same magnitude?
In: Planetary Science
Because one of the plates is basically being pulled and sucked into/under the other. Tbey’re both pushing into each other. Subduction zones either release gradually or they suddenly snap, thus causing the massive earthquakes we’ve seen. There’s much more force involved in this type of plate activity than others.
Some of the strongest quakes have occurred at non subduction zones. Look up the New Madrid Quake in the USA. This is in the middle of the USA nowhere near a subduction zone.
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