For geologists a fault is a break caused by movement; rock on one side of the fault moves relative to rock on the other side. The movement can occur in any plane from horizontal to vertical. Every fault movement tells a story about its source of energy. When a block of Earth’s crust separates by tension (think stretching an object), one side of a fault drops relative to the other side. When compression (think pushing two stones together) drives blocks together, one side of a fault rises relative to the other side. Faults have names: Those that form from tension are normal faults; those that form from compression, or colliding, are reverse faults. Blocks of rock sliding past each other in a horizontal plane are strike-slip faults.
Probably, all the breaking and moving would be rather inconsequential if the release of energy from the movement were unnoticeable. But, alas, it isn’t. Movement along faults is the cause of most earthquakes, and we all know how devastating earthquakes can be: Broken homes and shattered lives. Some faults are clearly visible as is the San Andreas Fault in the Carrizo Plain in California. Some are blind faults, undetected until they release their energy; the 1994 Northridge, California, destruction is an example.
Unfortunately, we cannot stop the natural processes that cause earthquakes because most of them are associated with plate tectonics, movement of giant slabs of Earth’s outermost rocky shell. It’s not possible to stop the movement along the San Andreas Fault, a strike-slip fault, by pounding a rail spike into the rock. The movement might begin miles below the surface. Nor can we stop the vertical movement of normal and reverse faults, first because we cannot predict their happening and second because we have no technology to stabilize rocks breaking after a buildup of energy.
That breaks can be caused by tension, compression, or sliding is not unlike those breaks we know between humans. Sometimes pulling apart is the cause; sometimes, colliding; and sometimes, sliding past. We appear, in our emotional breakups, to be Earth analogs.
In Earth’s crust, minor releases of energy detected only by sensitive seismometers and slow distortions of the land called creep rob faults of explosive energy. A major break happens because no smaller releases of energy have reduced the tension, compression, or sliding. Faulting is inevitable because the movement is inexorable. Because the energy buildup might lie hidden deep below the surface, we can’t predict the precise moment of an earthquake in spite of a network of sensitive instruments placed around a fault zone.
What about those breakups in the human realm? Once again, we seem powerless to stop most of them. The energy that moves both sides usually builds up for years, just as it does in rocks within Earth’s fault zones, sometimes building up for decades, sometimes, as in the case of once friendly countries, for centuries. All analogies limp, of course, and one that compares a human breakup to one in Earth’s crust is no exception. Small releases of energy in the human realm don’t necessarily release any tension, compression, or sliding past. Nor does any analogy make predictability any easier in the human realm than it is in the geological one. No united couple on the verge of a breakup is destined like Earth’s crust to break and violently move apart. In planetary tectonic plates, movements along faults are inevitable; in human relationships all energy can potentially be redirected. There is no Law of Conservation of Energy in human emotions and relationships. Human and Earth breakups might, however, have something in common. Because Earth’s crust has variable thicknesses and rock composition, there is no quantitative scale we can use to say how much energy buildup rocks can take before they break in a particular place, and there is no quantitative scale for human breakup energy.
Pulling apart, colliding, and even sliding past are sometimes observable in couples by their words and actions. Yet, like blind faults, such as the one that struck Northridge, California, some sources of breakup energy lie undetected, at least by one side of a relationship. Like seismologists who, though powerless to stop an earthquake nevertheless keep studying faults and their movements in hopes of one day predicting the moment when breakup energy exceeds rock unity, couples need to listen to the ground. Knowing that an energy buildup is taking place might be sufficient warning that saves a relationship from a breakup. Even if the warning doesn’t stop the breakup, it might lessen the impact on individual lives.
Probably, all the breaking and moving would be rather inconsequential if the release of energy from the movement were unnoticeable. But, alas, it isn’t. Movement along faults is the cause of most earthquakes, and we all know how devastating earthquakes can be: Broken homes and shattered lives. Some faults are clearly visible as is the San Andreas Fault in the Carrizo Plain in California. Some are blind faults, undetected until they release their energy; the 1994 Northridge, California, destruction is an example.
Unfortunately, we cannot stop the natural processes that cause earthquakes because most of them are associated with plate tectonics, movement of giant slabs of Earth’s outermost rocky shell. It’s not possible to stop the movement along the San Andreas Fault, a strike-slip fault, by pounding a rail spike into the rock. The movement might begin miles below the surface. Nor can we stop the vertical movement of normal and reverse faults, first because we cannot predict their happening and second because we have no technology to stabilize rocks breaking after a buildup of energy.
That breaks can be caused by tension, compression, or sliding is not unlike those breaks we know between humans. Sometimes pulling apart is the cause; sometimes, colliding; and sometimes, sliding past. We appear, in our emotional breakups, to be Earth analogs.
In Earth’s crust, minor releases of energy detected only by sensitive seismometers and slow distortions of the land called creep rob faults of explosive energy. A major break happens because no smaller releases of energy have reduced the tension, compression, or sliding. Faulting is inevitable because the movement is inexorable. Because the energy buildup might lie hidden deep below the surface, we can’t predict the precise moment of an earthquake in spite of a network of sensitive instruments placed around a fault zone.
What about those breakups in the human realm? Once again, we seem powerless to stop most of them. The energy that moves both sides usually builds up for years, just as it does in rocks within Earth’s fault zones, sometimes building up for decades, sometimes, as in the case of once friendly countries, for centuries. All analogies limp, of course, and one that compares a human breakup to one in Earth’s crust is no exception. Small releases of energy in the human realm don’t necessarily release any tension, compression, or sliding past. Nor does any analogy make predictability any easier in the human realm than it is in the geological one. No united couple on the verge of a breakup is destined like Earth’s crust to break and violently move apart. In planetary tectonic plates, movements along faults are inevitable; in human relationships all energy can potentially be redirected. There is no Law of Conservation of Energy in human emotions and relationships. Human and Earth breakups might, however, have something in common. Because Earth’s crust has variable thicknesses and rock composition, there is no quantitative scale we can use to say how much energy buildup rocks can take before they break in a particular place, and there is no quantitative scale for human breakup energy.
Pulling apart, colliding, and even sliding past are sometimes observable in couples by their words and actions. Yet, like blind faults, such as the one that struck Northridge, California, some sources of breakup energy lie undetected, at least by one side of a relationship. Like seismologists who, though powerless to stop an earthquake nevertheless keep studying faults and their movements in hopes of one day predicting the moment when breakup energy exceeds rock unity, couples need to listen to the ground. Knowing that an energy buildup is taking place might be sufficient warning that saves a relationship from a breakup. Even if the warning doesn’t stop the breakup, it might lessen the impact on individual lives.
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