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Scientists to explore link between climate change and earthquakes, volcanoes

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Earthquakes China Tibetan Qinghai 300x199 Scientists to explore link between climate change and earthquakes, volcanoes

Tibetan monks in Qinghai; photo by karamibu (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

The death toll from the earthquakes that struck western China last Wednesday has passed 1,700. The quakes occurred in Qinghai province, a mainly Tibetan region of the country; and resulted in 1,706 deaths and 12,128 injured with 256 still missing according to a piece in Sunday’s Guardian.

Yesterday, China’s president Hu Jintao visited Qinghai and promised a swift rebuilding of the area, where Tibetan Buddhist monks have been conducting an impressive rescue and relief effort.

The Guardian article also mentions that some suspect human activity may have played a role in the earthquakes:

Many blamed Chinese mining for causing the disaster, while some monks complained they had not been given sufficient credit for their rescue work.

Though no solid connection has been established between seismic and human activity, there is good scientific evidence pointing to dam construction in Japan exacerbating the effects of earthquakes and causing mudslides.

In fact, scientists spoke out today about the need for more study into linkages between rising temperatures associated with climate change and disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis.

From another article in the Guardian:

Experts say global warming could affect geological hazards such as earthquakes because of the way it can move large amounts of mass around on the Earth’s surface. Melting glaciers and rising sea levels shift the distribution of huge amounts of water, which release and increase pressures through the ground.

Richard Betts, a Met Office scientist, said there was no evidence to connect China’s recent deadly earthquakes or the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano with current global warming levels. Yet according to an article in the Telegraph, research published in the Royal Society has linked climate change with geological activity in Alaska.

Even small changes in the environment could trigger activity such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

–Telegraph

All this may sound far fetched, but it seems to be mostly connected with the movement of water and the associated shifts in weight on the Earth’s crust due to melting ice, rainfall and sea level rise. It also has to do with the interconnected nature of geological phenomena, such as volcanic activity causing landslides and glacial melt.

It certainly makes a lot more sense than a senior Iranian cleric’s claims that extra-marital sex causes more earthquakes in his country. Apparently, women who don’t wear traditional Islamic garb literally make ‘the Earth move under my feet’. Hopefully not too many people take this argument seriously, but if this was the case, shouldn’t Brazil be in ruins by now?

by Graham Land


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