Can small EQs relieve stress to prevent large ones?
If you look at earthquake statistics in most regions of the world, including California, you will find that for every magnitude 5 earthquake, there are about 10 that have a magnitude of 4, and for each magnitude 4, there are 10 with magnitude 3. Unfortunately, this means there are not enough small earthquakes to relieve enough stress to prevent the large events. In fact, it would take 32 magnitude 5’s, 1000 magnitude 4’s, or 32,000 magnitude 3’s to equal the energy produced in one magnitude 6 event.
