Posted: 3/14/2011 5:15:03 AM EDT
| Since the tectonic plates relieved some stress in Japan, does that put more stress on the tectonic plates along the US's west coast? |
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No.
As far as putting stress on the adjacent plate boundaries in the region though, it's possible. Geologically speaking, this region is very complex. There are four separate plates that converge where Japan sits and it's complex enough that geologists aren't even sure which plates some of these areas belong to. This area is called the NKTZ (Niigata-Kobe Tectonic Zone) and generally considered to be the most active earthquake zone on the planet. I've already posted this link a couple times in other threads, but it's got some good graphical representations of the NKTZ. http://cais.gsi.go.jp/Virtual_GSI/Tectonics/Niigata_Kobe/niigata_kobe.html 
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