A quiet revolution is taking shape in the world of physics, and it doesn’t rely on exotic particles or massive particle colliders. Instead, it begins with something much more familiar—sound.

To understand this, they included data from multiple wave sources along the fault line in their model, assuming that some parts of the fault generated waves about 30 seconds after the initial rupture.

Yet water doesn’t mute sound, but amplifies it. Sound waves travel 4.3 times faster underwater than they do in the air and they retain their energy for much longer.