Latest study, rain and snow are suspected to be the cause of earthquakes

JAKARTA – Earthquakes are generally caused by sudden movements along faults in the Earth. A new study actually shows that heavy rainfall and snow can play a role in triggering earthquakes.

Wionews reported, Friday (10/5/2024) that MIT scientists in the journal Science Advances published Wednesday (8/5/2024) indicated that there was a potential link between heavy snow on Japan’s Noto Peninsula and the thousands of earthquakes measured there since the end of 2020.

William Frank, study author and assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), said, “We see that snow and other environmental loading at the surface affects the stress state underground, and the timing of intense precipitation events is related to the start of this series of earthquakes.”

So, climate clearly has an impact on the Earth’s density response and part of that response is earthquakes. For example, on January 1, the west coast Japan hit by a massive earthquake measuring 7.6 magnitude near the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture. This condition was the strongest earthquake to hit the area in more than a century. The earthquake killed 213 people and left 26,000 in emergency shelter.

Satellite images reveal that the strong earthquake even shifted the coastline by 800 kilometers. Since that initial earthquake, the Noto peninsula, located about 190 miles northwest of Tokyo in the Sea of ​​Japan, has experienced nearly 600 aftershocks.

Hundreds of small earthquakes have rocked the Noto Peninsula since late 2020. Researchers analyzed thousands of earthquakes that hit the peninsula. They found that the number of earthquakes in the area increased significantly, with hundreds recorded every day, following major snowfall in 2021.

In the latest study, researchers focused on a series of earthquakes on the Noto Peninsula. These findings reveal that seismic activity in the region is unexpectedly linked to changes in subterranean stress, which is controlled by seasonal patterns of snow and rain.

The researchers believe that this new link between earthquakes and climate may not be limited to Japan and they also think the influence of climate on earthquakes could be greater with global warming and rising temperatures.

“If we enter a changing climate, with more extreme precipitation events, and we expect a redistribution of water in the atmosphere, oceans, and continents, that will change how the Earth’s crust is loaded. That will definitely have an impact, and that’s a connection we can search further,” said Frank.

(msf)