Alarming Facts about Earthquakes Trends
Leading earthquake predictions point to intensifying trends in both future and recent earthquakes.
And accepted facts about earthquakes link this to the effects of global warming.
This seems crazy at first, until you consider scientific earthquakes information and how earthquakes happen.
We also meet an amazing geologist who, despite ridicule and exclusion by his peers, has been accurately predicting earthquakes with animals for decades.
Facts about Earthquakes and Global Warming
At first glance, there doesn’t seem like there could be any connection between global warming and seismic activity. After all, why would the earth become less stable just because it’s a little warmer?
Well, connected they are. The earth’s crust is a lot more sensitive than you might think. There are well documented cases of even the load of water in a new dam triggering earthquakes in the local area.
A number of geologists say glacial melting, in particular, will unleash pent-up pressures in the Earth’s crust. Aside from massive earthquake predictions, they believe we are in for other extreme geological events such as tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
Before we consider how earthquakes happen, let’s look at recent earthquake activity.
Recent Earthquake Activity
Below is a graph showing how the number of high magnitude earthquakes has grown over the past 25 years:
Source: http://www.earth.webecs.co.uk/
The graph shows the incidence of all earthquakes has risen over the last 25 years. Why?
And early in 2010 we have experienced a spate of strong earthquakes and even erupting volcanoes.
You can check out the latest earthquake activity on the IRIS website as shown on the map below.
Click on the map for more detail and latest info!
Is There a Link Between Earthquake Predictions and Global Warming?
Though I am no longer convinced that we are still in a global warming phase, there is plenty of evidence that the earth did, in fact, experience significant warming up until 2004/2005. Since then there has in fact been cooling. In any case, the following still applies:
In predicting earthquakes to increase further as global warming progresses, consider this: a cubic meter of ice weighs nearly a ton and some glaciers are kilometers thick.
This prodigious weight acts to suppress tectonic movements in the underlying crust, and plug cracks where volcanic magma might otherwise escape to the surface.
When the weight is removed through melting, the suppressed strains and stresses of the underlying rock are free to come to life.
Harvard seismologist Göran Ekström has found a striking increase in the frequency of glacial quakes, particularly in Greenland, but concerning Antarctic and Alaska earthquakes.
Greenland quakes have risen from 6 to 15 a year between 1993 and 2002, to 30 in 2003, 23 in 2004 and 32 in the first 10 months of 2005, closely matching the rise in Greenland’s temperatures over the same period.
Their source was traced to surges and slips within ice sheets, where rapid melting is causing water to collect under glaciers, making them glide faster into the sea, triggering quakes.
Similarly, retreating glaciers in southern Alaska are likely to open the way for future Alaska earthquake activity.
Already, as the ice melts, we are seeing evidence of new volcanic activity in Antarctica. A new, previously unknown volcano has appeared on the sea bottom in waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, in an area with no previous record of volcanic activity.
Investigations into a large area of surface slumping on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet revealed a huge accumulation of water underneath that has now been shown to be due to an active volcano erupting under the sheet.
Glacial melting has a less direct but just as unsettling additional impact on global seismic activity. The reliquified water released raises sea levels and increases the weight on the ocean floor, unbalancing tectonic forces deep below the surface.
Underwater quakes and therefore tsunamis could thus become more frequent. Though they get little attention, glacial melting of the Antarctic ice is already causing earthquakes and underwater landslides.
Link Between Earthquake Predictions and Past Climate Change
Dramatic climate shifts of the past have also been associated with spectacular seismic activity.
During the late glacial and early Holocene periods when climate was see-sawing from one extreme to another in the interval known as the Younger Dryas, submarine landslips were widespread.
For example, 8,200 years ago an enormous slip in the Norwegian Sea involving over 3000 cubic kilometers of material set off a massive tsunami more than 20 meters high.
At about the same time mega-earthquakes ruptured the crust and lifted Scandinavia’s mountain backbone by 5 to 15 meters.
In accord with scientific seismic and earthquake predictions it is entirely possible that, as redistribution of the Earth’s mass – induced by global warming – disturbs the relative equilibrium of its crust, monumental forces in the form of increasing earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity will be unleashed.
And the forecasts from some quarters are dramatic – not only will the earth shake, it will spit fire.
For more evidence-based predictions on the coming effects of global warming read this.
The Role of Animals in Earthquake Predictions
Geologist Jim Berkland claims to have a formula that uses animal behavior to accurately forecast earthquakes.
You can download a FREE REPORT on Jim’s method, and the role of animals in earthquake predictions here.
Reports also abound of how animals of all kinds throughout the coastal areas of Asia headed for the hills in time to avoid the Asian tsunami.
Could your pet save your life? What signs should you look out for? Find out here.
Leave a Reply