Wow this sort of research is amazing and just shows how in depth scientific research can and has gotten to, but highlights how muc more we need to learn. There are scientists now studying specific types of rare geologic regions in depth, but to get to a point where we can make good predictions of the region, they would need to probably bore tens of thousands of core samples. It is intimidating that we know that we have so much more to learn, but the fact that we're actually reaching a point, where we are able to start quantifying our ignorance so we can efficiently work to fill in the holes in our understanding, is astounding. It may never be perfectly accurate, but even predictions of within a few months of earthquakes or volcanoes or of how a quake propogates through the ground to build better more quake resistant structures or well planned emergency evacuation routines could potentially save billions of dollars and millions of lives. /stoned rant about really cool science.... I am a ***** nerd...