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Small earthquakes can have a big impact on the movements of major faults

The little quakes can disrupt the growth of slow-slip events along megathrust faults

a devastated cityscape

Megathrust faults can generate some of Earth’s largest quakes. One example is the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, which rocked Japan and fomented a tsunami that devastated coastal areas, as shown. These same faults can also release immense amounts of seismic energy over days or weeks in harmless slow-slip events.

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By Nikk Ogasa

Seismic symphonies of minor earthquakes may affect grand movements on major faults.