Los Angeles Times - Monte Morin, 9/27/12
Scientists document an episode in the breakup of the Indo-Australian plate into two pieces, an epic process that began roughly 50 million years ago and isn't done yet.
Planet Earth may be 4.5 billion years old, but that doesn't mean it can't serve up a shattering surprise now and again.
Such was the case on April 11 when two massive earthquakes erupted beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, far from the usual danger zones. Now scientists say the seafloor ruptures are part of a long suspected, yet never before observed, event: the slow-motion splitting of a vast tectonic plate.
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