The Chilean earthquake that killed more than 700 people on Saturday probably shifted the Earth's axis and shortened the day, according to a NASA scientist.
Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told Bloomberg that the 8.8-magnitude quake is likely to have moved the Earth's axis by 2.7 milliarcseconds - about 8 centimetres - and shorted the day by about 1.26 microseconds.
Gross used the same model to estimate the shift caused by the 2004 Sumatran earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami. That quake had a magnitude of 9.1, shifted the Earth's axis by 2.3 milliarcseconds and shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds.
Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told Bloomberg that the 8.8-magnitude quake is likely to have moved the Earth's axis by 2.7 milliarcseconds - about 8 centimetres - and shorted the day by about 1.26 microseconds.
Gross used the same model to estimate the shift caused by the 2004 Sumatran earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami. That quake had a magnitude of 9.1, shifted the Earth's axis by 2.3 milliarcseconds and shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds.
Gross said the fact that the Chilean earthquake was in the Earth's mid-latitudes, instead of near the equator, meant it will have shifted the axis further despite being smaller. Plus the fault that caused the Chilean quake dips into the Earth at a slightly steeper angle, making it more effective in moving mass.
The changes caused by earthquakes are permanent, Benjamin Fong Chao, dean of Earth Sciences of the National Central University in Taiwan, toldBusiness Week.
The changes caused by earthquakes are permanent, Benjamin Fong Chao, dean of Earth Sciences of the National Central University in Taiwan, toldBusiness Week.
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