What determines when an earthquake will happen or not? Slow-Slip Events are relatively minor movements that don't cause massive disruption like earthquakes despite having similar elements. Subduction, the process of a plate sliding under another plate, is still a key factor with slow-slip events.
With the help of Pacific Triangle, Iowa State University's Geology Department is using drones for the first time to gather data on slow-slip events along the coast of California to learn more about how they happen. This research project will hopefully help us better understand its more violent cousin, the earthquake, so that we can better predict major events in the future.