How soothing

A little baby powder can go a long way toward soothing those frictionous (of course it’s a word) places.

In contrast, the creeping section of the fault between San Juan Bautista and Cholame in Central California moves slowly and steadily, as much as an inch each year. Scientists have struggled to explain why the section behaves so differently.

…

Moore and Rymer think the more likely culprit is talc that forms along veins and fractures in the serpentinite due to the combination of shearing along the fault and a chemical reaction to hydrothermal water circulating through the rock.

That is awesome.