A reassuring rule of thumb about earthquakes is breaking down. For decades, seismologists had assumed that individual faults—as well as isolated segments of longer faults—rupture independently of one another. That limits the maximum size of the potential earthquake that a fault zone can generate. But the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck New Zealand just after midnight on 14 November 2016—among the largest in the islands9 modern history—has reduced that thinking to rubble. According to a new study, published online this week in Science, the heavy shaking in the Kaikoura quake was amassed by ruptures on at least 12 different faults, in some cases so far apart that they were thought to be immune to each other9s influence.

中文翻译：

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新西兰地震指向复合地震的威胁

关于地震的一个令人放心的经验法则正在失效。几十年来，地震学家一直假设单个断层——以及较长断层的孤立部分——彼此独立地破裂。这限制了断层带可以产生的潜在地震的最大规模。但 2016 年 11 月 14 日午夜刚过，新西兰发生了 7.8 级地震——这是群岛9 现代历史上最大的地震——已经将这种想法化为灰烬。根据本周在线发表在《科学》杂志上的一项新研究，凯库拉地震中的剧烈震动是由至少 12 个不同断层的破裂造成的，在某些情况下，它们相距甚远，被认为不受彼此影响。