Last year's massive earthquake near Sumatra which generated the killer tsunami was also the longest earthquake ever recorded. CNN reports that the quake released energy equivalent to a 100 gigaton bomb. The magnitude of the quake has also been increased from the original estimate of 9.0 to somewhere between 9.1 and 9.3.
"Normally, a small earthquake might last less than a second; a moderate sized earthquake might last a few seconds. This earthquake lasted between 500 and 600 seconds," said Charles Ammon, associate professor of geosciences at Penn State University.
The quake released an amount of energy equal to a 100 gigaton bomb, according to Roger Bilham, professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado.
The article also says that the earthquake was picked up all over the world -- everywhere that scientists had instruments they were able to detect the massive earthquake.
