«It has been argued for decades that fault
systems evolving
over geological time may unify smaller fault segments, forming mature rupture zones with a potential for larger earthquake,» said Marco Bohnhoff, professor of geophysics at the German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany, who sought to clarify the seismic hazard potential from the NAFZ.
Under human influence, the Earth's climate
system is not only changing in its totality and
over a
geological time - scale, it is also rendered more unstable and unpredictable.