“Can a solar eclipse trigger earthquakes?” Despite such claims, a comprehensive study was conducted in 2017 on what could be one of the main triggers of earthquakes.
According to this study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, even minute changes in the Earth’s rotation speed can affect the frequency of large earthquakes.
When examining the number and dates of earthquakes of 7.0 and above between 1900 and 2017, something interesting was noticed:
These earthquakes were strangely intense at some times and infrequent at other times. In addition, the number of large earthquakes was reaching its highest point in 32-year time intervals.
So why did such an effect occur?
No, not Mercury retrograde! The real culprit was Earth itself. Although we think that the Earth rotates around itself in 24 hours, this rotation speed is actually not constant.
The reason why the length of a day varies by microseconds is due to changes in the mass distribution of our planet. What causes this are factors such as changes in the direction and strength of the winds, the movement of the plates in the earth’s crust, the movement of the Earth’s liquid outer core.
Let’s give an example of an ice skater in order to better understand why the rotation speed of the Big Earth is affected by these:
Just as an ice skater pulls his arms around himself to increase his speed and opens his arms to decrease his speed, the differentiation of the rotation speed of the Earth is similar to this. This is what we call the conservation of angular momentum in physics.
However, it is impossible to know the exact date of major earthquakes!
As the Earth’s rotation speed increases, the number of large earthquakes also increases. The time period in which earthquakes will increase is known, but it is quite difficult to make a pinpoint forecast. Even this millisecond difference can cause a butterfly effect and affect thousands of people.
- Sources: Advancing Earth and Space Science, TUBITAK
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