superquake
English
Alternative forms
- super-quake
Etymology
super- + quake
Noun
superquake (plural superquakes)
- (seismology, geology, rare) An extremely destructive, large-scale quake, often an earthquake of such magnitude; megaseism; megaquake
- 1978, Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics, Volumes 11-12, A. Ross Eckler, page 104:
- In January 1973, Newsweek magazine reported an earthquake somewhere in the world , and added: "It was not a superquake as earth tremors go."
- 1984, Guidebook for the San Andreas Fault, Cajon Pass to Wrightwood, Volume 55, Pacific Section, American Association of Petroleum Geologist, page 9:
- Others have suggested that, since this creeping section separates the two segments that have produced great earthquakes, that it is unlikely a "superquake" that ruptured all three sections could occur at one time.
- 2015 May 6, Astrid Tomczak-Plewka, “Supercycles in subduction zones”, in phys.org:
- This "superquake" may have been the largest in a series of earthquakes, thus marking the end of what's known as a supercycle: a sequence of several large earthquakes.