Last week I pointed out that Luke 21:11 suggests that we will hear about great earthquakes-rather than regular earthquakes-in diverse places prior to the Second Coming of Christ.
- Luk 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
I also provided two charts showing magnitude 8.0 and greater earthquake activity across different time periods from 1900 to today.
- These charts suggested that we have recently seen a historically high number of magnitude 8.0 and greater earthquakes in the timeframe (110 years) that we can account for.
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Some people may argue that focusing solely on magnitude 8.0 and greater earthquakes causes us to ignore many major earthquakes that have transpired over the past several decades. Here are a couple of the many major earthquakes that were not accounted for in last week’s charts because they were below magnitude 8.0.
- Sichuan 2008 (7.9)
- Haiti 2010 (7.0)
I wanted to provide charts that included magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes last week, but I was unable to locate data accounting for magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes between 1900 and today when I published my article about great earthquakes from 1900 and today.
Fortunately, I found data over the weekend that enabled me to create a couple of charts that allow us to compare recent magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquake activity with past activity.
- Today I share these charts with you so you can see how recent magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquake activity compares with past activity.
I utilized two data sources to account for the magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes that have taken place since 1900.
- The U.S. Geological Survey’s Centennial Earthquake Catalog data set. I rely on this data set to account for magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes that have taken place from 1900-1972.
- The U.S. Geological Survey’s Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE) data set. I rely on this data set to account for magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes that have taken place between 1973 and today.
The following graph illustrates magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquake activity each year from 1900 to today (link to the chart in case you are unable to see it on your screen).
The above graph somewhat resembles a pulse monitor graph with periods of relatively high activity and periods of relatively low activity. The year 2010 experienced a relatively high number of magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes (22 versus a historical average of 15.72), but it was not a record-setting year.
- Nine magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes have already occurred in less than three complete months in 2011. If this pace continues we would have 36 magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes this year, which would be an all-time record.
I created a second chart comparing magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquake activity across different decades to see how last decade’s activity compares to other decades in the past (link to the chart in case you are unable to see it on your screen).
Surprisingly, there was below average magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquake activity last decade. In fact, last decade had the second lowest number of magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes since 1900 (excluding 2010 to today).
- The number was brought down by several below average years between 2000 and 2008. However, 2009 was an above average year in terms of magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquake activity (17), and the above average activity has continued into this current decade.
Today’s graph and chart do not completely mesh with the magnitude 8.0 and greater earthquake charts from last week. Today’s graph and chart suggest we may not be living in an extraordinary period of major earthquake activity while the magnitude 8.0 and greater earthquake charts suggests that we’ve seen a historically high number of major earthquake activity recently. Thus, how a person depicts recent great earthquake activity depends on whether they use “magnitude 7.0 and greater” or “magnitude 8.0 and greater” to define what a “great earthquake” is.
- One could argue that “magnitude 8.0 and greater” better defines what a “great earthquake” is than “magnitude 7.0 and greater” since magnitude 8.0 and greater earthquakes are much rarer (and thus much more distinguished) than magnitude 7.0 and greater earthquakes.
Again, it remains to be seen whether we will see an increasing number of great earthquakes in the coming years, but the number of great earthquakes should increase in the coming years if we are approaching the End Times…
