The Land of Israel is sitting on the western edge of the Arabian Tectonic Plate as it slides north/south along the side of the African Plate, which is pushing into the Anatolian Tectonic Plate, also north and south. Yet the Anatolian Plate is sliding east and west along the Eurasian Plate. As can be imagined, this is a very unstable part of the world and the site of some of the major catastrophic disasters recorded in the history of man.

For 3,500 years, we’ve had very little experience in living in a world of natural catastrophes. Let us look at earthquakes in an uniformitarian world. Based upon observations for the past 100 years, we can analyze the frequency of earthquakes around the earth in relations to their size or magnitude.

Tectonic Plates along the Arabian, African and the Eurasian Continents

Frequency of Occurrence of Earthquakes Based on Observations since 1900

Descriptor	Magnitude	Average Annually
Great	8 and higher	1
Major	7 - 7.9	18
Strong	6 - 6.9	120
Moderate	5 - 5.9	800
Light	4 - 4.9	6,200 (estimated)
Minor	3 - 3.9	49,000 (estimated)
Very Minor	< 3.0	Magnitude 2 - 3: about 1,000 per day Magnitude 1 - 2: about 8,000 per day

The Richter Magnitude Scale Facts

When we look at the magnitude of an earthquake size, we must understand the following facts.

· The Richter magnitude scale was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology as a mathematical device to compare the size of earthquakes.

· Seismic waves are the vibrations from earthquakes that travel through the Earth and are recorded on instruments called seismographs. Sensitive seismographs, which greatly magnify these ground motions, can detect strong earthquakes from sources anywhere in the world.

· The magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs. On the Richter Scale, magnitude is expressed in whole numbers and decimal fractions.

Magnitude 5.3 might be computed for a moderate earthquake.

Magnitude 6.3 might be computed for a strong earthquake.

· Each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude, yet each whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy .

· Earthquakes with magnitude of about 2.0 or less are usually call micro earthquakes; they are not commonly felt by people and are generally recorded only on local seismographs.

· Events with magnitudes of about 4.5 or greater or called moderate earthquakes - there are several thousand such shocks annually - are strong enough to be recorded by sensitive seismographs all over the world.

· Great earthquakes, such as the 1964 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska, have magnitudes of 8.0 or higher. On the average, one earthquake of such size occurs somewhere in the world each year.

· There are no upper limits in the magnitude of earthquakes.

· The largest known shocks have had magnitudes in the 8.8 to 8.9 range.

Abridged from The Severity of an Earthquake, a U. S. Geological Survey General Interest Publication.

According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 18 major earthquakes (7.0 - 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year. However, let's take a look at what has happened in the past 28 years, from 1969 through 1996.

Our records show that 1992 is the first time that we have reached or exceeded the long-term average number of major earthquakes since 1971. In 1970 and in 1971 we had 20 and 19 major earthquakes, respectively, but in other years the total was in many cases well below the 18 per year which we may expect based on the long-term average. The following is a list of major earthquakes during this period of 1900 – 1998.

Number of Earthquakes per Year - Magnitude 7.0 or greater – 1900-1998

1900 13 1930 13 1960 22 1990 13

1901 14 1931 26 1961 18 1991 10

1902 8 1932 13 1962 15 1992N 23

1903 10 1933 14 1963 20 1993M 16

1904 16 1934 22 1964 15 1994 15

1905 26 1935 24 196 5 22 1995E 25

1906 32 1936 21 1966 19 1996 22

1907 27 1937 22 196 7 16 1997 20

1908 18 1938 26 1968 30 1998 16

1909 32 1939 21 1969 27 1999 13

1910 36 1940 23 1970 29 2000 15

1911 24 1941 24 1971 23

1912 22 1942 27 1972 20

1913 23 1943* 41 1973 16

1914 22 1944 31 1974 21

1915 18 1945 27 1975 21 Most people killed in this century

1916 25 1946 35 1976$ 25

1917 21 1947 26 1977 16

1918 21 1948 28 1978 18

1919 14 1949 36 1979 15

1920 8 1950 39 1980 18

1921 11 1951 21 1981 14

1922 14 1952 17 1982 10

1923 23 1953 22 1983 15

1924 18 1954 17 1984 8

1925 17 1955 19 1985 15

1926 19 1956 15 1986# 6

1927 20 1957 34 1987 11

1928 22 1958 10 1988 8

1929 19 1959 15 1989 7

Total 1900-1997 = 1960 events = 20 per year

* Most active year since 1900

# Least active year since 1900

$ Year with most people killed since 1900 (295,000 - 699,000;

dominated by the Tangshan quake with casualty estimate from

255,000 - 655,000)

N First full year of operation on NSN/digital recording system

M Year moment magnitude quotes were introduced

E Year energy magnitude quotes were introduced

Statistics were compiled from the Earthquake Data Base System of the

U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center, Golden,CO

Analysis of such data can bring some interesting insights. It is my strong recollection, that two big eras in my lifetime, there was a wave of evangelism and intense interest in the Coming of Christ. This was in the late fifties, when I attended many tent evangelistic meetings, complete with sawdust on the ground, and the 67-72 era when Campus Crusade for Christ with evangelical and Adventist fundamentalism all appealed to the soon coming of Jesus.

By analyzing the above records, 1957 and 1967-72 era were big resurgence years in earthquake numbers. It is also of interest there has been a lull in major earthquake activity for the last decade (1988-99) with only one year exceeding the average number of earthquakes in the past century.

Taking a cosmic viewpoint, if God was using earthquakes to warn mankind to start preparing for his potential coming, then it would appear that 1905 – 1914 would be a potential era. For historians Adventist history, it would be of interest to draw parallel references to apocalyptic interest in End Time Events with the number of earthquakes noted per year. This era historically was a critical time in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The prophetic messages of Ellen White were in the waning years, yet the church was kept embroiled in political dissension with the John Harvey Kellogg and Battle Creek Sanitarium split. Spiritual resuscitation was not in the cards, for this small part of God’s people, who of all Christendom, were the most apocalyptic, minded. God’s prophetic people were in no mood to be ready for his coming.

Yet at the same time there was resurgence within another group of Advent Christians, the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In 1873 and 1874, N.H. Barbour with the Herald of the Morning, and George Storrs, the publisher of the Bible Examiner, and founder of the Life and Advent Union, promoted the date of the return of Jesus. When Christ did not return on those dates, Barbour turned to the Diaglott translation of the New Testament by Benjamin Wilson, in which the ‘coming’ of Jesus, was translated the ‘presence’ of Jesus in Matthew . This produced the ability to escape another disappointment in 1874. It was Storrs and Barbour, who were the Adventist leaders who became the religious mentors of the teenager, Charles Taze Russell along with the Advent Christian Church minister, later Jehovah Witness founder, George Stetson.

It was the Herald of the Morning, which imprinted the belief that Jesus returned invisibly in 1874 and affected Charles Taze Russell and became the imprint of the future Jehovah’s Witness, in which he first published the Zion’s Watch Tower in 1879. Here he publicized the belief in the invisible return of Jesus in 1874. In the November, 1881 issue, he acknowledged also his roots to the Millerite and the Advent movement.

Jehovah’s Witnesses fundamental tenet as proclaimed in the theology of the Watchtower today is that Christ returned invisible around October 4 or 5 in 1914. Few Witnesses are aware that their denomination taught that Jesus had returned invisibly forty years earlier in 1874 and was the primary reason for Charles Taze Russel for starting the publication of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence in 1879. Actually the 1874 and the 1914 date were interchanged back and forth for almost a decade as new dates continued to be set, 1918 and then 1925. Actually few Jehovah’s Witnesses know that the dates for their coming of Jesus either visible in 1874 or invisible in 1914 are in direct alignment with larger numbers of earthquakes in this world.

Another moderately elevated period for earthquakes was is the 30’s when most of the world was struggling with survival in the Great Depression. This came a more critical period of increased seismic activity in the 40’s. Whether the increase in earthquakes in the 30’s and 40’s was a partial cause of the increasing restless nature of man-kind, which depicted itself in WW II is not totally known. What we do know historically, is that man was too busy embroiled in WW II, creating the Holocaust in Germany and defending the last gasp of Imperial power of the Japanese. He was unable to focus on a spiritual path of elevation, enlightenment and hopeful transformation in anticipation of the second-coming of Jesus. It must be understood, God will not allow the coming of Jesus until there is a people spiritually sensitive to receive Him. It is my firm belief that God must have a people awaiting him. It won’t be just anyone, only those who have prepared themselves to be transformed back into the Edenic ‘image of God’ that we were initially created.

Once again we see a small resurgence in 1957, which in my world was the big era of the sawdust camp-meetings and evangelistic meetings. What happened? I’m not sure. Laodicea?

And then there was the 60’s and 70’s. Somehow in a cosmic framework, can we see the evidence that God and the forces of Good may be using is using seismic activity to try to awaken mankind to his destiny of spiritual growth? We also see that Satan (Lucifer) is busy trying to create scientific dissension (Evolution), church dissension (Splits within many churches of Christendom), political dissension (Wars, holocausts and genocide) and social dissent (student uprising, family disintegration, and social fracturing of society), to keep man so preoccupied and so busy, so they cannot prepare themselves for Christ’s return.

Will there be resurgence of earthquakes in the 21^st century? The trend is not clear. The question, will this time, a people arise and speak with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the Hour of his Judgment is come. Worship Him that made heaven and earth.” (Revelation 14:7) Will there be a spiritual people, in whatever religious community, who are spiritually inclined to listen to God’s quiet voice, to form a nurturing society of trusting transparent believers preparing to meet their Maker? If this is to be our generation, then we have a lot of spiritual growing to do.

What is our most recent evidence of earthquakes (EQ)?

Largest Earthquakes in the 21^st Century

Year EQs over 7.0 Number of Deaths Largest quake – Region - Size

1999 13 22,711 September 30 -- Oaxaca, Mexico -- 7.5M

Most deadly EQ – August 17, Turkey – 7.6M - 17,000 killed, 50,000 Injured, thousands missing,

600,000 homeless

2000 15 213 November 16 -- New Ireland Region, P.N.G. -- 8.0M

Most deadly EQ – June 4, Southern Sumatera, Indonesia – 7.9M - 103 killed, 2,174

injured.

2001 15 21,358 June 23 -- Near Coast of Peru -- 8.4M

Most deadly EQ - January 26 - India – 7.7M - 20,085 people killed, 166,836 injured, about 339,000 buildings destroyed and 783,000 damaged in the Bhuj-Ahmadabad-Rajkot area and other parts of Gujarat

When we analyze this data it suggests that earthquakes are presently not in a high state or escalating state of progression in spite of the onset of the second millennium. At the same time, this data, nor any I’ve seen looks at the critical type of earthquake, the deep core quakes which suggestion major earth core shifting or major shifting in the major tectonic plates under the continents. Are we getting more deeper core quakes, showing major deep crustal plate movement? That data, we do not have.

What then must one look for in anticipation for the Big Quake? First, we must find a persistent trend in deep core earthquakes of significant magnitude. Second, we must see progressive number of quakes, though shallow, in major population areas with devastation, increasing loss of life and property. Third, these earthquakes must be associated with an increase in volcanoes around the world depicting major seismographic changes going in the surface crust of the earth.

Let’s now focus down on major quakes of this past century.

Largest Earthquakes in the World in the 20^th Century

1.) Chile 05/22/1960 9.5 Mw 38.2 S 72.6 W 9.5 Mw

2.) Prince William Sound, Alaska 03/28/1964 9.2 Mw 61.1 N 147.5 W 9.2 Mw

3.) Andreanof Is. Aleutian Is, Alaska 9.1 Mw 51.57N 175.34W 9.1 Mw

4.) Kamchatka, Russia 11/04/1952 9.0 Mw 52.75 N 159.5 E 9.0 Mw

5.) Coast of Ecuador 01/31/1906 8.8 Mw 1.0 N 81.5 W 8.8 Mw

6.) Rat Islands, Aleutian Isl.Alaska 03/09/1957 8.8 Mw 51.3 N 175.8 W 8.8 Mw

7.) Rat Is., Aleutian Isl, Alaska 02/04/65 8.7 Mw 51.23N 178.52W 8.7 Mw

8.) Kuril Islands 11/06/1958 8.7 Mw 44.4 N 148.6 E 8.7 Mw

9.) Alaska 02/04/1965 8.7 Mw 51.3 N 178.6 E 8.7 Mw

10.) India-China Border 08/15/1950 8.6 Mw 28.5 N 96.5 E 8.6 Mw

11.) Kamchatka, Russia 02/03/7-1923 8.5 Mw 54.0N 161.0W 8.5 MW

12.) Argentina 11/11/1922 8.5 Mw 28.5 S 70.0 W 8.5 Mw

13.) Banda, Sea, Indonesia 02/01/1938 8.5 Mw 5.25 S 130.5 E 8.5 Mw

Largest Earthquakes since 1900

Looking at this chart, states that the largest quakes are in the 8.5-9.5 Mw area. Yet is this reflective of the Quakes in the time of the end as foretold in the Prophets and Revelation? I don’t think so. A catastrophic earthquake, associated with major worldwide volcanism and polar shifting as foretold in the latter days of Biblical prophecy, would be in the 9 plus category and some experts suggest a major earthquake of 13-15 Mw.

Compare this with the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake at 7.7 Mw, which Ellen White, one of the early Advent leaders predicted and the most destructive quake in the United States history.

9 Mw quake would be 31 times more powerful

10 Mw quake would be 961 times more powerful

11 Mw quake would be 29,791times more powerful

12 Mw quake would be 923,521 times more powerful

13 Mw quake would be 28,629,151 times more powerful than the San Francisco quake.

The ‘Great Earthquake’ projected in scripture at the coming of Jesus, could take a catastrophic toll of over 90% of the population of this world. Since there are not any Arks of safety for man in this type of catastrophe such as there was for the Great Flood, then salvation for mankind would demand a supernatural intervention. Would this require moving man out of this three-dimensional world into a fourth dimensional world at the Second Coming of Jesus? To me, this would be a most reasonable suggestion.

Since a lot of Christians in the world live in the United States, the big question is what predictable changes can be forecasted for America at the end of times. Understanding that Hawaii and Alaska are one of the largest quake regions in the world, we now look at the Top 15 quakes in America that do no included Alaskan and Hawaii based earthquakes.

The 15 Largest Earthquakes in the Contiguous United States

Alaska and Hawaii are one of the largest quake regions in the world

1.) New Madrid, Missouri 1812 02 07 09:45 UTC 7.9 Mw

2.) Fort Tejon, California 1857 01 09 16:24 UTC 7.9 Mw

3.) Owens Valley, California 1872 03 26 10:30 UTC ______7.8 Mw

4.) Imperial Valley, California 1892 02 24 07:20 UTC ______7.8 Mw

5.) New Madrid, Missouri 1811 12 16 08:15 UTC 7.7 Mw

6.) San Francisco, California 1906 04 18 13:12:21 UTC 7.7 Mw

7.) Pleasant Valley, Nevada 1915 10 03 06:52:48.0 UTC 7.7 Mw

8.) New Madrid, Missouri 1812 01 23 15:00 UTC 7.6 Mw

9.) Landers, California 1992 06 28 11:57:34 UTC 7.6 Mw

10.) Kern County, California 1952 07 21 11:52:14.0 UTC 7.5 Mw

11.) West of Lompoc, California 1927 11 04 13:50 UTC 7.3 Mw

12.) Dixie Valley, Nevada 1954 12 16 11:07:11 UTC ______7.3 Mw

13.) Hebgen Lake, Montana 1959 08 18 06:37:13.5 UTC 7.3 Mw

14.) Borah Peak, Idaho 1983 10 28 14:06:06.5 UTC 7.3 Mw

15.) West of Eureka, California 1922 01 31 13:17:22 UTC 7.3 Mw

We should note widely differing magnitudes have been computed for some of these earthquakes; the values differ according to the methods and data used. For example, some sources list the magnitude of the 8.7 Rat Islands earthquake as low as 7.7. On the other hand, some sources list the magnitude of the February 7, 1812 New Madrid quake as high as 8.8. Similar variations exist for most events on this list, although generally not so large as for the examples given.

Whatever the variation, there appear to be three major unstable regions in America. A summary of the continental U.S. earthquakes, suggests that major seismic activity in the United States will more than likely be in these following three areas:

California – 8 quakes greater that 7.3

Missouri – 3

Nevada – 2, Idaho – 1, Montana – 1.

In general, the magnitudes given in the list above have been determined from the seismic moment, when available. For very large earthquakes, the moment magnitude is considered to be a more accurate determination than the traditional amplitude magnitude computation procedures. Note that all of these values can be called "magnitudes on the Richter scale," regardless of the method used to compute them.

Source: Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), by Carl W. Stover and Jerry L. Coffman, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1993.

Another interesting investigation is looking at the most destructive earthquakes in reference to human life. For students of prophecy, the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 is of interest because it is placed within some models of End Time prophecies. It is of interest how other more devastating earthquakes were not considered as a key to prophetic fulfillment of end time events. Are prophecy watchers really being honest in only looking at the quakes in the western hemisphere?

Most Destructive Known Earthquakes on Record in the World

(50,000 deaths or more)

(Listed in order of greatest number of deaths)

Date Location Deaths Mag Comments

January 23, 1556 China, Shansi 830,000

October 11, 1737 India, Calcutta** 300,000

July 27, 1976             China, Tangshan        255,000*    8.0          Estimated death toll

                                                              (official)                     as high as 655,000.

August 9, 1138 Syria, Aleppo 230,000

May 22, 1927 China, near Xining 200,000 8.3 Large fractures.

December 22, 856+ Iran, Damghan 200,000

December 16, 1920 China, Gansu 200,000 8.6 Major fractures, landslides.

March 23, 893+ Iran, Ardabil 150,000

September 1, 1923 Japan, Kwanto 143,000 8.3 Great Tokyo fire.

December 28, 1908 Italy, Messina 70,000 7.5 Deaths from earthquake and tsunami.

to 100,000 (estimated)

September, 1290 China, Chihli 100,000

November, 1667 Caucasia, Shemakha 80,000

November 18, 1727 Iran, Tabriz 77,000

November 1,1755 Portugal, Lisbon 70,000 8.7 Great tsunami.

December 25, 1932 China, Gansu 70,000 7.6

May 31, 1970 Peru 66,000 7.8 $530,000 damage, great rock slide, floods.

1268 Asia Minor, Silicia 60,000

January 11, 1693 Italy, Sicily 60,000

May 30, 1935 Pakistan, Quetta 30,000 7.5 Quetta almost completely destroyed.

to60,000

February 4, 1783 Italy, Calabria 50,000

June 20, 1990 Iran 50,000 7.7 Landslides.

* Official casualty figure--estimated death toll as high as 655,000.

+ Note that these dates are prior to 1000 AD. No digit is missing.

** Later research has shown that this was a typhoon, not an earthquake.

(Source: The 1737 Calcutta Earthquake and Cyclone Evaluated by

Roger Bilham, BSSA, Vol. 84, No. 5, October 1994)

Data compiled from several sources.

United States Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center

This portrays two major points: I will concede that the Lisbon earthquake is estimated as the most powerful quake in this Most Destructive List. Yet we also know there were more powerful quakes that had very minimal destruction. Most models on the time of the end events appear to focus on the Divine cosmic interest on the western world as though the eastern world is not within the interest of Divine intervention. This is itself might be a major reason why prophecy seekers and their end times models are deficient. The whole world is of interest to God, and deaths in India, China, Syria, Iran and Japan are just as important as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

If we are looking for natural processes in the decade of the 1700’s to portray God’s interaction in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, then a trend which depicts the decade of 18^th century as escalating in catastrophic events would be of interest. And such an event is noted. For 300 years, the western did not have any catastrophic earthquakes, outside of China, which was totally unknown to Europe in 1556. Then we do see a trend in the 18^th and 20^th centuries in number of earthquakes and the astronomic loss of human life associated with these quakes.

The Most Destructive Earthquakes according to Centuries

1000 to 2000 AD

(earthquakes with 50,000 for more people who have died)

1000-1100 none

1100-1200 1136 230,000 Syria Total 12^th c. = 230,000

1200-1300 1290 100,000 China Total 13^th c. = 100,000

1300-1400 None Total 14^th c. = None

1400-1500 None Total 15^th c. = None

1500-1600 1556 830,000 China Total 16^th c.= 830,000

1600-1700 1667 80,000 Caucasia

1693 60,000 Italy Total 17^th c.= 80,000

1700-1800 1727 20,000 Iran

1737 300,000 India

1755 70,000 Lisbon

1783 50,000 Italy Total 18^th c. = 490,000

1800-1900 none Total 19^th c. = none

1900-2000 1908 70,000 Italy

1920 200,000 China

1923 143,000 Japan

1927 200,000 China

1932 70,000 China

1970 65,000 Peru

1990 50,000 Iran

1999 17,000 Turkey Total 20^th c. = 798,000

2001 20,000 India

Maybe we are now finding a clue. The 20^th century is turning out to be the most deadly earthquake century on record, especially if we discount the worst recorded earthquake in the last 1000 years in China with 830,000 people who died.

Maybe Lisbon is not that important except it was the arena of focus to the students of Biblical prophecies during the Great Awaking and the Advent Movement of the 1830’s to 1840’s. It also appears that China, Peru, India, Iran and Japan must play into God’s plan to awaken his people.

When it comes to major earth changes, maybe biblical students should take a more holistic viewpoint and consider God’s intervention or lack of intervention in the whole world instead of just in the western Christian world.

The Earth’s Earthquake Machine

According to Nature Magazine in April 30, 2001, scientist Alessandro Forte of the University of Western Ontario and Jerry Mitrovica of the University of Toronto found that the earth is fueled by a four piston heat engine with two large sinking cold slabs and two equally large rising hot flumes. This heat engine is the responsible agent for the generation of earthquakes, volcanoes, continental tectonic plate movements and even climate changes.

This thesis was also affirmed by Professor Sue O’reilly of the University of Macquarie who suggests that that earth is overlain by a brittle yet cool crust, but underneath is a thick mantel of about 1000 miles thick that continuously mixes with the heat from the molten core of the earth. These viscous blobs of primitive earth material that rise and fall between the mantle and the core, mixing and churning. They form the dynamic energy of earthquakes and volcanoes.

When we start seeing strange phenomenon occurring in the natural world and migrations of birds, mammals and sea animals, then people have to think beyond the conventional scientific thinking and be willing to ask questions. In July 27, 2002, national attention was received when 12 tons of dead and dying jumbo flying squid washed ashore at La Jolla Cove. According to Eric Hochberg, scientist at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, “It may have been the largest local mass stranding in nearly 100 years.” It was reported that the squid made strange like a dolphin or a seal as they were dying. One observer states, “The thing that weirds me out about the squid is that they have humanlike eyes.” Known as Dosidicus gigas, the Jumbo Flying Squid live along the middle to northern eastern Pacific Ocean, yet they are now showing up from Orange County down to Baja. This phenomenon is believed by scientists to be related to the unusual heating in different areas of the Pacific Ocean by El Nino.

More and more scientific study is being done at the core of the earth. This molten core has an inner iron core about the size of the moon, whose temperatures are more akin to the heat of the sun. Surrounding it is an outer fluid iron core If you have ever watched a lava lamp, then you can understand the dynamic inferno in the center of this earth with the magma convection currents rising and sinking to the surface and then back as they cool and then reheat. The outer core of the earth with its smaller diameter spinning faster causes the rising and falling magma to twist and spiral like a DNA helical spiral. Understand that this magma surrounds an iron core that is spinning and as such acts like the copper windings around an electric generator. Massive electric currents, called electromagnetic induction, flow between these positive and negative poles and become the hidden source for the magnetic field that surrounds our earth and continuously regenerates that field.

A 3-D magnetic field surrounding the earth in the Glatzmaier-Roberts geodynamo model at the Pittsburg Superconducting Center and the Los Alamos Laboratories.

While these mega electrical forces are spinning and rotating in the center of our earth, massive solar storms and bursts of radiation that race out from the sun at the speed of light and travel across the solar system. At the point in time when the magnetic field is at the maximum on the surface of the sun, it forms a complete polar reversal and the north and the south poles of the sun exchange places. The high speed coronal mass ejections, called solar flares, spew out of the sun and in route distort the sun’s magnetic field and as they travel towards the earth, they slam into the magnetic field of the earth, bending, distorting and reshaping the earth’s field. When these massive solar flares pass through the earth it powers up the internal thermal dynamo and fuels further energy currents to rise from the molten core to the surface of the earth. Beneath the bottoms of the oceans, the once cold waters thousands of deep in the trenches are warming. These warm areas, especially in the Pacific Ocean are causing the weather changes across the American continents known as El Nino and La Nina.

Image the earth as a moving solar planet with an iron core and covered with water. What an ideal conductor. As the magnetic fields are moved ad shifted by the external sun flares, it generates electricity in the center of the earth by electromagnetic induction.

How then is heat generated within the earth? The caused of heat are compression by gravity, internal friction, radioactive decay and electrical currents flowing through the earth from the sun. The first three are stable and ongoing forces that are usually uniform in their conduct. The most variable are the electrical currents coming from the sun which increases the electrical voltage through the earth. There are times when the sun undergoes increasing cycles of sunspots and for longer duration. If the sunspots become more pronounced it will affect the inner planetary temperature core.

As the temperature rises, the spiraling rise of the magma flows will become more intense. This turbulence underneath the tectonic plates of this earth causes earthquakes to form and vents in the crust of the earth where volcanoes will erupt. The heat radiated under the seas and warms up the oceans, causes the polar ice caps to melt and warms the continental land see caption masses while the glaciers and ice fields progressively melt. This phenomenon has been occurring well over a hundred years as attested by pictures of the receding glaciers at Glacier National Park in Alaska over the last century. This is global warming totally directed by the Hand of the Lord.

Double Sunspot Cycle 23

A cry has gone throughout the world as the effects of global warming have predictably been affected more and more of the world’s population. The waters in the Great Barrier Reed in Australia were the warmest on record in the summer of 2002. Massive coral bleaching was reported by scientists of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). This institute completed an atlas of sea temperatures of the Great Barrier Reef over the past decade and comparing it with historical data showed that 2002 was the warmest water temperatures off northeast Australia since 1870.

Mass bleaching as reported by AIMS showed that on the world’s largest living organism, the barrier reef with 133,300 square miles of coral, over 60% of the reef was affected. “According to Craig Steinberg, AIMS oceanographer, “The outlook isn’t good. If coral can’t adapt then they’re going to bleach and you get mass mortality. These sea creatures live with one to two degree of their maximum temperature threshold and a tiny increase in temperature will result in mass extinction of the entire barrier reef.

Over in American we witnessed the most massive forest fires in Colorado and the western states in 2002 in decades. A year later, in the summer of 2003, we witnessed the highest temperature in England in 350 years in the summer of 2003 when the worse heat wave also in centuries hit France with an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 heat related deaths that caused the political job of more than one French governmental minister.

The hottest summer of 2003 has been getting the attention of scientists. Professor Philip Jones of the climate research unit in University of East Anglia in the UK and Professor Michael Mann of the University of Virginia in American published a recent study in the Geophysical Research Letters supporting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change when they concluded that temperatures date for the last 1,000 years affirm that the 20^th century had the warmest climate on record.

Going back to the records in nature, studying trunks of ancient trees, cores drilled in the icecaps of Greenland and Antarctica, and historical records in Netherlands, Switzerland and China, Jones and Mann concluded that the northern half of this planet earth is the warmest since the time of Christ, two thousand years ago.

Atmospheric gases trapped in polar ice has suggested that before the Industrial Revolution, the level of carbon dioxide was 280 parts per million. Modern carbon dioxide readings were first taken in 1958 and in that year the carbon dioxide reading was 315 ppm. By 2002, the level was over 370 ppm. While the world temperature levels do not seem to rise totally parallel with the rise in carbon dioxide, it has become an increasing factor along with solar flares, oceanic cycles and volcanic eruption. The debate continues on how much the populations of the world are contributing to these temperature rises.

Official temperature reading around the world began in 1880. In order to extrapolate temperatures in the past, scientists have used evidence from tree rings and corals, oxygen bubbles in ice plus cores from soil and sediments below the earth’s surface. The evidence generally accepted is that the temperature of the earth since the millennial celebration in 1000 CE, the temperature on the planet has remained constant or possibly cooled a bit. That evidence has now been refuted. In the past 150 years, it has heated up by 1 degree. Why the change and why so fast? Is this another preparation for the time of the end? Is this another way of awaking the world’s populations on the future signs in the natural world that the Lord of hosts will be preparing to herald His coming?

For BibleSearchers, global warming, caused in part by the rise in the burning of fossils fuels in the past century, is now rapidly spinning out of proportion to the human elements involved. Once again we are seeing the finger of the Lord working through the natural forces or the Laws of His Creation.

Increasing we are beginning to understand how the internal dynamic relationship of the core of our earth is affected by the turbulence and upheavals on the sun. The years 2000-2002 saw the apex of one of the most potent of the 11 year solar cycles recorded over the last 120 years. This cycle also depicted a rare double cycle. As the solar flares race from a resurgent sun and slams into the magnetic field of this earth, it energizes the central iron core causing the magma flows to race up to the surface of the earth where under the mantle of this planet the oceans and the continental land masses are warmed.

If the Lord of hosts chooses to extend this cycle and allow the sun to flare with greater intensity, then we will begin to see increased number of earthquakes and volcanic activity. These are the natural forces, under the control of the Hand of the Lord, that broke up the continental plates, displaced the ocean floors and caused the mountain ranges to rise. As the land masses rise and fall, the shifting weight will some day cause rotational imbalance to this earth. As the earth begins to wobble more and more, the day will come when we will see a complete polar reversal.

Predicting Earthquakes

The goal of earthquake prediction is to give warning of potentially damaging earthquakes early enough to allow appropriate response to the disaster, enabling people to minimize loss of life and property.

Assumption of Random Occurrence: Scientists study the past frequency of large earthquakes in order to determine the future likelihood of similar large shocks. This is called the assumption of random occurrence.

For example, if a region has experienced four magnitude 7 or larger earthquakes during 200 years of recorded history, and if these shocks occurred randomly in time, then scientists would assign a 50 percent probability (that is, just as likely to happen as not to happen) to the occurrence of another magnitude 7 or larger quake in the region during the next 50 years.

Clustering of Earthquakes: The clustering of earthquakes leads scientists to estimate that the probability of a magnitude 6.8 or larger earthquake occurring during the next 30 years in the San Francisco Bay region is about 67 percent (twice as likely as not). This clustering is when strain is released along one part of the fault system; it may actually increase on another part.

For example, four magnitude 6.8 or larger earthquakes and many magnitude 6 - 6.5 shocks occurred in the San Francisco Bay region during the 75 years between 1836 and 1911. For the next 68 years (until 1979), no earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger occurred in the region. Beginning with magnitude 6.0 shocks in 1979, the earthquake activity in the region increased dramatically; between 1979 and 1989, there was four magnitude 6 or greater earthquakes, including the magnitude 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquakes.

Accumulation of Fault Strain: Another way to estimate the likelihood of future earthquakes is to study how fast strain accumulates. In the United States, only the San Andreas Fault system has adequate records for using this prediction method.

For example, for the past 150 years, earthquakes of about magnitude 6 have occurred an average of every 22 years on the San Andreas Fault near Parkfield, California. The last shock was in 1966. Because of the consistency and similarity of these earthquakes, scientists have started an experiment to "capture" the next Parkfield earthquake.

Will America be involved in future Time of the End Quakes?

For decades, California has been expecting the “Big Quake”. In the mid 1970’s while I was a student there was at least one Christmas we deliberately delayed our return to California because of a prediction of the big one in early January. With the San Fernando quake in 1971, we were always reminded that life could be very tenuous. Now with our son in college about 30 minutes from Redlands, California, my interest in obviously increased.

To the side is a graph map of southern California earthquakes.

Major southern California earthquakes over the last 75 years (Coming Earth Changes, p69)

San Andreas Fault and Southern California

California’s major San Andreas Fault is known to be the boundary zone between the Pacific and North American tectonic plate. In other words, the coastline of California and especially Los Angeles and San Diego are not on the North American land plate but actually part sitting over the Pacific land plate, which is subducted or riding under the western edge of the North American plate. A non-verified story was told to me about a friend of his, who was part of a submarine exploration under the North American Plate along the California coast. This sub exploration upward to 50 miles inland before the North American plate and the Pacific plate fully came together.

If these plates were to separate, your imagination is just as fertile as anyone else’s in knowing what will happen to these major cities. There is no doubt that the seismic activity has increased significantly in the 90's. This trend is concerning to seismologists because it parallels the cycle of quakes that came before the noted 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

A sudden acceleration in the grinding between the two plates has been documented. The Northridge Quake in 1994 occurring along a small fault was the first quake to strike urban U.S. since 1933 and the worse financial loss ($13-20 billion) since 1906. If San Andreas Fault east of Los Angeles began to slip, 10 million people would be affected. The occurrence of a big quake at Wrightwood, California averages about 100 years. Yet, this fault has been very quiet for over 135 years. Several 7M quakes or one big 8+M quake could suddenly release this stored stress.

The Faults in the San Francisco Bay Area (Coming Earth Changes, p.75)

Though San Bernardino-Loma Linda-Redlands with 3 million people would be the most affected, earthquake swarms would radiate towards Los Angeles basin, which sits on a cluster of dozens of faults radiating in all direction. This land mass area could suddenly break up and collapse like putty, underneath the city of L.A, and the city would disappear like in a sinkhole.

San Francisco and Northern California

This area has been seismically quiet since the 1906 earthquake. Thirty years ago this began to change with the 1990 7.1M Loma Prieta quake originating in the rural Santa Cruz Mountains. Three faults traverse this area: the San Andreas Fault, the Hayward and the Calaveras Fault. 7M plus quakes usually coming in pairs within the major population areas would create significant deaths and devastation.

The Pacific Northwest, the Tectonic Plates and the Cascade Volcanoes

Pacific Northwest Plates (Coming Earth Changes, p.80)

This coastline from Vancouver Island, British Columbia to northern California is formed by the subduction under the North American Plate by the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Goda Ridge Plate just off the coastline of this area. Earthquake projections are for several 8 plus quake or one 9 quake with the next 30 years.

This would create two big hazards along with the primary quake damage. In that the quake would be generated off the coast in the Pacific, tsunamis with estimated waves of 35 plus feet would slash into the coastline. Seattle which sits on a sandy shelf at sea level would be devastated.

The second big hazard from earthquakes is volcanoes. There are seven active volcanoes besides Mount St. Helens which erupted in 1980, in the Cascade Mountain Range. These include Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak and Mt Rainer in Washington; Mt. Hood, in Oregon; and Mt. Shasta, Cinder Cone, and Lassen Peak, in California. The explosion of volcanoes would be one hazard, but a collapsing mountain such as Mt. Rainier could sweep through low areas with avalanches and mudflows where 100,000 people now reside. Most of you remember the explosion of Mt. St. Helens. By historical standards, this was a small volcano as noted in the following graph.

Selected Historical Volcano Eruptions. (Coming Earth Changes, p.82)

Utah and Nevada

California is not the only earthquake prone areas in the United States. There are several significant faults within the Utah and Nevada states. The Wasatch fault zone lies near the Grigham City-Salt Lake City - Ogden urban area with one million people.

This fault has about ten segments of some 9 to 36 miles in length. The historical Major Fault Zones in Utah and Nevada data show the occurrence of 6.5 to 7.5quakes.

Coming Earth Changes p.85

Not only is there significant property damage potential, but it also includes Tooele, Utah, the home of the U.S.’s largest stockpile of chemical weapons.

In southern Nevada the fault extends into the region of Las Vegas, also with significant building property but also includes Hoover Dam and the Yucca Mountain high level waste repository.

Earthquake Zones at the western home of the Nuclear and Chemical Stockpile Storage Facilities - Coming Earth Changes p.85

On August 27, 2003, a rare 4.4 magnitude earthquake occurred nine miles south of the south entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The park authorities have been watching closely increased hydrothermal activity at the Norris Geyser Basin and increased hydrothermal activity under Yellowstone lake. This quake, being very shallow according to Park official has vaulted the volcanism model developed by Larry Park towards a worse-case scenario. “Simply put, anyone living within 600 miles of Yellowstone could be sitting in a modern day Pompeii. In addition, for those living outside this area and west of the Mississippi river, there could be grievous consequences as well because systemic processes are now building beneath Yellowstone, that paint a very clear picture of a major eruption event in its early stages.”

Map of United States shows large oval, extending from Oregon to Texas, where ash was deposited after eruption.

Yellowstone Volcano Alert – August 2003

Significant scientific concern has now been expressed as the evidence is becoming more and more clear, the subterranean thermal vents beneath Yellowstone National Park are getting hotter. Overall the water in the Yellowstone basin is getting hotter. Norris, the park’s hottest and most active geyser basin with its hot springs and brilliant colored thermal pools is spewing higher and more active steam vents than ever before.

Steamboat geyser, known as the largest geyser in the world, whose routine activity is dormant upwards to 50 years as spouted four times this year. The temperature in Pork Chop geyser has risen 8 degrees Celsius in the last few months. Increased swarms of earthquakes are occurring and new vent cracks are breaking forth.

All this activity is heating up the scientific discussion about the relationship between the recent activity in the park and the erupting magma flows miles in the depths of the earth. Yet, what we cannot see in the interior of the earth, we can perceive on the surface.

New radar technology is now able to measure minor movement in the crust of the earth. It can watch, in the case of Yellowstone, the breathing or the ups and down movement of the land. In the last seven years a 28 by 7 miles area south of Norris has bulged 5 inches in the last seven years. This is very rapid in geological time. This has now brought a third unknown “resurgent dome” in the Yellowstone ancient volcanic caldera whose up and down puffing movement is indicative of the underground movement of thermal water flows and magma.

How interconnected the subterranean world of magma, tectonic plates and expanding and contracting crustal surfaces of the earth was recently depicted when a recent earthquake in Alaska set off hundreds of earthquakes in Yellowstone the next day and set the bay swelling and pulsing at Clear Lake near Houston, Texas within hours.

The Central and Eastern States

Within the central and eastern states are eight known fault zones. Only one, the New Madrid

Seismic Zone has demonstrated the capacity for large earthquakes. Though there have not been

any quakes greater than 5 in this century, in the 1811-1812 era, 2000 quakes were generated in

this area. This included about 5 in the 8 plus magnitude, 15 quakes in the 6.5-7.8

Magnitude. If this were to be repeated, the cities of Memphis and St. Louis would be devastated.

Earthquake Source Zones in Mid America

(Coming Earth Changes p.91)

Seismologist have placed the fault zones with the greatest threat to land and population as

(1) New Madrid Seismic Zone,

(2) St. Lawrence Valley Seismic Zone,

(3) the Charleston, S.C.area,

(4) the Cape Ann, Mass area and

(5) the Wabash Valley Fault Zone.

One other fault of significance is the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone. This area causes more seismic activity than any other area in mid to Eastern U.S. except the New Madrid Fault Zone. Along this zone also run several hydroelectric power plants, two nuclear power plants and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Eastern North Atlantic Seaboard

New York City and the eastern Seaboard have been placed in several end of times prophetic models including visions by Ellen White. Stanford and USGS scientists have found evidence that

stresses have been building in the last 100 years in the upper crust of western

Long Island and the northern part of New York City. The 1884 quake of about 5 magnitude was located near the mouth of the Hudson River. The fault that came from that quake runs through

Central Park, Manhattan and Greenwich Village.

Great earthquake motion intensity map for 8.0 to 8.9 Quakes

(Coming Earth Changes p.95)

On April 20, 2002, a rare 5 M earthquake rocked the northeastern part of the United States as it

radiated from a fault a little over two miles under the earth’s surface, fifteen miles southwest of

Platsburgh, New York.

The last recorded earthquake was a magnitude 5.1 event in 1983 in the Blue Mountain Lake area, New York. The largest historic earthquake in the northeastern region of the U.S. and Canada occurred near Charlevoix, Quebec in 1663, 200 miles to the northeast.

Also northeast in New Jersey in the Ramapo Fault Zone, evidence has been found, according

to evidence in radiocarbon dating of basal peat bogs, of not only sinking but in rotating the crustal blocks within the zone. This scenario could occur below New York City area and a similar condition would occur in the Cape Ann Fault, which would cause significant damage to Boston, Massachusetts.

Tsunamis (Tidal Waves)

Facts about Tsunamis

Tsunamis are seismic sea waves. Their name is a Japanese word meaning ‘harbor waves’. They are often incorrectly called ‘tidal waves’ (rare events linked to tides). A tsunami is a series of traveling ocean waves of extremely long length and period. They are caused by under-sea events

like earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions; or by other natural events such as ocean meteorite impacts, or large landslides into bays or lakes. (The effect in a lake is known as a ‘seiche’).

A tsunami is like the effect of a stone landing in a pond. Waves radiate out in ever-widening circles. As a tsunami crosses a deep ocean, length from crest to crest may be 150 km (50 miles) but the height may be under a meter (3 feet), unfelt by ships nor seen from the air, and may reach speeds up to 1,000 km/h. (600 mph) The waves’ energy extends from deep ocean floor to surface.

Effects on Coastal Regions

As tsunamis enter shallow water near coastlines, wave speeds drop as energy is compressed into much shorter distances. Wave heights increase dramatically up to 40 meters (120 plus feet), threatening life and property, as they strike the shore with devastating force (see diagram). Between multiple waves, which may vary in size, sea-level may actually drop well below normal. Great destruction may arise even though the tsunami may have been caused thousands of miles away.

Where Do They Occur?

Pacific Region - The majority of tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean, although they have occurred in all oceans of the world. In our region, areas most at risk include many Pacific Islands, New Zealand, and the heavily-populated coasts of Japan and Indonesia.

Australian Occurrences - On average, a tsunami is recorded in Australia every two years, but most are too small to be seen by people. The tsunami threat to Australia varies from ‘low’ for most of the continental coastline to ‘medium’ along the northern half of WA (see map, page 27). A small one struck WA in 1994.

In the 1980s a tsunami reached Darwin at low tide, which fortunately cancelled out most of its force. Evidence also exists of large tsunami impacts on the south-east coast, but before European settled on the continent. The largest actually recorded in Australia was in August 1977 at Cape Leveque , WA, with a ‘run-up’, or traveled up the beach and land 6 meters (19 feet) above sea level.

History of Tsunami Disasters

The worst tsunami disaster followed the volcanic eruption of the island of Krakatoa in 1883 when 35 meter (115 foot) waves crashed into Java and Sumatra, drowning 36,420 people.

In 1896, a large tsunami killed 27,000 in Japan. In May, 1960, an earthquake (9.5 Mw) off the coast of Chili, generated waves in the deep water of the Pacific that traveled a full 150 degrees around the globe, or more than 10,000 miles, landing ashore in Japan with a 15 foot tsunami. Altogether it killed 1,000 people in Chile, Hawaii, the Philippines and Japan.

From 1970 to 1997, tsunamis caused over 9,000 deaths, including 2,700 on the Indonesian island of Flores in December, 1992. Computer projection states that a 30 foot asteroid impact between Australia and New Zealand would generate a tsunami which would impact southern Japan with 125 to 175 foot wave.

Volcanoes in the United States

USA EARTHQAUKE MAP LARGE.GIF (97880 bytes)

When the continental plates begin to move, the tsunami and volcanoes emerge or erupt. Neither one can exist without the evidence of earthquakes. What an area of fascination, especially for children, for volcanoes web sites on the Internet are amongst the most popular sites to date.

The United States, next to Japan and Indonesia, has the most potentially active volcanoes in the world, 68. Most volcano sites are in Alaska and Hawaii, the most famous; Augustine Volcano and Mona Loa, yet 20 sites are known in the contingent United States.

The University of Buffalo scientist studying ice cores that discovered a mystery in relation to global climate change and solar activity and sunspots. In their studies, it showed that volcanic eruptions have now been observed to interfere and reverse the effect of sunspots on global climates. Most of the studies on global warming have been centered on the effect of human interference on atmospheric changes in the climate.

Two different mechanism that effect the climate are the cosmic ray and charged particles that stream towards our earth. According to Michael Ram, Ph.E., professor of physics at UB claimed that it was the goal to find out if “periods of maximum sunspots will influence the climate to behave in a certain way. Many times scientists would find a trend between the sun and the climate then suddenly this trend would reverse. So the students started studying the dust concentrations in ice cores from Greenland which give a “past-atmospheric dust concentration.” Since dust is a very sensitive marker of dry climate changes they began to co-relate the ice cores for the past 300 years with laser-light scattering techniques with sunspot data that has been recorded for also the same 300 years.

What they found were 32 years of positive sun/dust correlation, but it was also in the years that there was relatively little worldwide volcanic explosive activity. Every one of these ‘quiet” periods came to an end with increase volcanic explosions. The assumption was that low level of cosmic ray on the Earth came from high sunspot activity. This would give less cloud cover, less rain and high dust levels.

Then came the Indonesian volcano Krakatau that erupted in 1883 and killed 36,000 people worldwide. The normal sun/dust correlations, between 1860 to 1882, which were ‘quiet periods’ in the atmosphere came to a complete halt. Six major volcano eruptions, between 1800 to 1962, showed the same reversals between sunspot and climate. So here we have increased solar flares and activity causing less clouds, less rains and more dust yet, more volcanoes adding more dust and sulfates in the air also increase the dust levels. Where sunspots decrease cloud cover, volcanoes increase cloud cover.

American and the Pacific Northwest Volcanoes

The most prolific site of past, present and potentially future volcanic activity in the continent United States is the Cascade Volcanic region in the Pacific Northwest: Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Here the Juan de Fuca plate, part of the larger Pacific plate, is cramming itself under the lighter North American plate. How fast? About an inch and one-half a year. Deep under the surface, the compressed and heated rocks melt into magma, ascending like blobs to the surface. They are then stored in chambers, gradually developing pressure until the lid blows off and the volcano erupts. Out pours the lava, gas, ash, steam and molten rocks.

It is Mount St. Helen’s that is most familiar to the American public, for she is the only volcano to erupt since 1950. In 1980, she erupted, killing 56 people and leveling enough trees to build 300,000 homes. Yet Mount St. Helen’s is only one of 13 of the 20 known volcano site in the contingent U.S., all of which are potentially active volcanoes in the Cascades mountain range. Eleven of these sites have erupted according to vulcanologists in the past 4000 years, seven in the past 300 years. These 13 include:

Mount Baker – dormant for thousands of years, erupted in the mid 1800’s and has active

steam vents near the summit in Sherman Crater.

Glacier Peak – erupted at least 6 times in the last 4000 years.

Mount Rainer - the most unstable and most dangerous.

Mount St. Helens – the most recent eruption in 1980.

Mount Adams – minor eruption 1000 years ago.

Mount Hood – last erupted 200 years ago with widespread flowing rivers of fire and

mud flows.

Mount Jefferson -

Three Sisters,

Newberry Volcano,

Crater Lake,

Medicine Lake Volcano,

Mount Shasta – California’s most active volcano who has erupted about every 300

years.

Lassen Peak – erupted in 1914-1917 with 6.4 miles of volcanic debris.

The KTT (Kermadec Tonga Trench)

The main pressure points are the KTT area along the Australian and Pacific Plates and the Caribbean Plate pointing towards the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The main sliding areas are the Indonesian, Indian-Himalayan, and Peri-Mediterranean area.

The most active region the world in terms of earthquake activity is an area northeast of New Zealand called the KTT or the Kermadec Tonga Trench. It is this area, I feel that watchers of natural signs must keep a close look, for this area appears to be an early warning area of seismotectonic activity for the whole world. When massive earthquake and volcanism is observed in this area, especially in the deep plates, then a major chain reaction may ensue.

Between the Kermadec Islands and the Tonga Islands, is what is known as the Monwai Seamount, about 750 miles NE of New Zealand. Whereas the Tonga and the Kermadec Trenches are from 5.5 to 6.5 miles in depth, the Monwai Seamount is relatively shallow as 2.4 miles in depth. This uplift is the result of volcanic uplift.

Closer to New Zealand in the Bay of Plenty is a 1050 foot, emerging submarine volcano, call White Island. It is about 10 x 12 miles in size consisting of two overlapping strato-volcanoes. In the years between 1996-1999, intermittent activity has been monitored here with steam and tephra eruptions. It is this summit that forms a part of the famous legends of the Maori tribesmen.

On the North Island off of New Zealand, is a 9100 foot summit, Ruapehu, which is one of the most active volcanoes in the region. This strato-volcano has at least four cone building areas and one active vent, Crater Lake. This area, I believe is an area to be watched with great interest.

Mount Etna and the Callabria region of Italy

Almost directly opposite the South Pacific area of the KTT is one of the next most unstable regions of the earth’s globe. It might be regarded as an antipodal region of the KTT region in the South Pacific, because it is on the opposite side of the earth’s crust. In the Mediterranean area, Mount Etna towers above Catania, in the northeastern part of the island of Sicily, and the Callabria area of Italy. This region marks the boundary zone between the African and Eurasian crustal plates. Earthquakes along this zone are known as strong, deep-focus earthquakes.

Mount Etna in Etna, Italy

Mount Etna (37.73 degrees N, 15.00 degrees E, summit elev. 10,870 feet) has one of the longest documented records of volcanism in historical times and is the highest volcano in Europe. During historical times, it has erupted about every six years, yet since 1958 the volcanic output has increased significantly, the most in 300 years and has the longest duration of volcanism of any volcano, a total of 472 days. Violent eruptive activity has been increasing in the especially since 1993 with both the Etna and Stromboli volcano simultaneously erupting, Etna with three craters erupting and Stromboli with four craters erupting.

Etna has the longest history of eruptions, beginning in 1500 BC when it was first recorded and has had 190 eruptions since then. The largest eruption was in 1669 when lava flows destroyed parts of the town of Nicolosi six miles away. Current activity is about one sixth the rate of Kilauea in Hawaii.

Hutton, William, Coming Earth Changes, ARE Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1996.

NASA Sir-C image of Etna’s Summit craters

Mount Etna, Moses and the Exodus of the Israelites

What it of interest is that Mount Etna was one of several volcanoes who erupted in that famous era of 1500 BC. The most famous being the powerful explosion of the island of Thera (Thira also called Santorin or Santorini) the southernmost island in the archipelago of the Cyclades in southern Greece. This is the most powerful volcanic explosion recorded in the last 3500 years. The island of Thera was about ten miles in diameter and estimated at 5,200 feet high and its eruption destroyed the highly civilized Minoan civilization. Also at this time, according to geologists, the eastern margin of the Sinai Peninsula underwent a major uplift. The tephra (ash) blew across the Mediterranean towards the New Kingdom of Egypt and the 18^th Dynasty reign of Amenophis II and his descendents.

Does it surprise us that this event also coincides with the dramatic Exodus of the Children of Israel, in which many of the ten plagues can be related to recent volcanic explosions. Traversing across the Sinai, we also see the Israelites camping about a loud, venting, thunderous volcano, Mount Sinai, when the Tables of Stone were given to Moses. Imagine walking in and out of a peninsula of one smoking cauldron and crater after another, and you can imagine the fear and temerity of the Israelite people.

This one volcanic explosion, or you might say a clustering of explosions from Mount Etna to Thera or Santorini then across the Sinai lava beds to Mount Sinai was felt at least from China to Greenland. G.M. Friedman, in Geotimes (March 1992) stated that ash (tephra) was carried all the way to China and the records of that era record the deleterious impact on agricultural Image of a map showing Mount Vesuvius and where it is located in Italy. production, which included the dimming of the sun, famine and crop failures. On the opposite side of the globe, the ash is recorded in the Greenland ice cores.

Mount Vesuvius near Naples, Italy

Near Mount Etna is another volcano, I have on my watch list, Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, Italy. Mount Vesuvius (40.82 degree N, 14.43 degree E, summit elevation 1281 m) is most famous with its 79 AD eruption, which destroyed the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Another significant explosion occurred in 1631 and 1760. The last cycle of activity ended about 1944. Compare this date with the number of earthquakes on the century list above. Recently it has portrayed itself with moderate seismicity and intracrater fumarolic activity in the Somma caldera.

Vesuvius victims in a boathouse on the shoreline at Herculaneum