Seismic gap have occurred in previously-identified seismic gaps. Prior to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, that segment of the San Andreas fault system recorded much less seismic activity than other parts of the fault. The main shock and aftershocks of the 1989 event occurred within the previous seismic gap. Immediately following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, a seismic gap analysis of the seismic zones around the Pacific Ocean identified the Central Kuril segment of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench subduction zone as the most likely to give rise to a major earthquake. This zone, 500 km in length, at that time had experienced no
Anomeric effect in the figure above. This prediction is supported by experimental evidence. Furthermore, this preference for the gauche position is still seen in the equatorial conformation. This term refers to the apparent preference of positively charged nitrogen substituents for the equatorial conformation beyond what normal steric interactions would predict in rings containing an electronegative atom, such as oxygen. Substituents containing carbons with partial positive charges are not seen to exhibit the same effect. Theoretical explanations for the reverse anomeric effect include an electrostatic explanation and the delocalization of the sp electrons of the anomeric carbon and oxygen lone pair. There is