Sciencedaily.com, 06/05/2013
New Zealand's geologic hazards agency reported this week an ongoing, "silent" earthquake that began in January is still going strong. Though it is releasing the energy equivalent of a 7.0 earthquake, New Zealanders can't feel it because its energy is being released over a long period of time, therefore slow, rather than a few short seconds.
These so-called "slow slip events" are common at subduction zone faults -- where an oceanic plate meets a continental plate and dives beneath it. They also occur on continents along strike-slip faults like California's San Andreas, where two plates move horizontally in opposite directions.
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