Moon’s pull may help trigger earthquakes
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.0210100
Atlantic : Although it is well known that the Moon is responsible for Earth’s tides, researchers say it might also affect earthquakes. Based on two decades’ worth of data, Satoshi Ide of the University of Tokyo and colleagues have determined that some of the largest earthquakes have occurred when Earth’s crust was under the highest tidal stress. Those include the earthquakes that struck Sumatra on 26 December 2004; Maule, Chile, on 27 February 2010; and Tohoku-Oki, Japan, on 11 March 2011. The reason may be that the tugging of the Moon on Earth’s crust, although relatively weak, causes tiny faults to grow into a giant rupture. If so, future earthquake prediction methods may need to take into account the Moon’s pull, especially in earthquake-prone areas.
