• Question: why have there been so many earthquakes recently?

    Asked by whiteleyinnit to Charlie, Eoin, Jemma, Julian, Steve on 23 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Stephen Moss

      Stephen Moss answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Hi Whiteley
      It does seem that way doesn’t it, and there certainly have been some very destructive ones. I don’t really know the answer, but I could imagine some sort of domino effect, where if one of those vast tectonic plates on the earths surface moves, then this could de-stabilise another one so it moves, which affects another and so on. After a time you would expect things to settle down – we still can’t predict them so we’ll just have to see if there are more on the way.

    • Photo: Julian Rayner

      Julian Rayner answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Hi whiteleyinnit. Have there really been so many earthquakes recently? I know that seems like an odd question, but isn’t it possible that we have just seen lots of TV coverage of earthquakes lately because there have been two big ones near major human cities?

      I don’t know the answer, but it is a really important point about science. Science is about looking at the data for yourself, and not taking other people’s word for something. If we really want to know whether there have been more earthquakes recently, we need to look at the geological data, not at the media reports. What is the average for earthquakes all around the world in a given year? In a decade? Is the number in the last 6 months anything unusual, given those averages?

      That’s one of the great things about science – it teaches you a way to look at the world that is about data, and to question things that you are told, especially things that you are told by the media and the web. It’s not just about learning facts!

    • Photo: Eoin Lettice

      Eoin Lettice answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Hi whiteley,
      I think there is probably the same number of earthquakes as there has always been. The thing is we hear about them much more often due to advances in TV news and the internet.
      For example, if an earthquake happened in America today we would know about it almost straight away. But, if that had happened 100 years ago we mightn’t hear about it at all or maybe we’d hear about after a few weeks!
      Obviously the recent earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand mean they are very much in the news now, but I doubt whether the rate of earthquakes has increased that much!

      Eoin

    • Photo: Charlie Ryan

      Charlie Ryan answered on 23 Mar 2011:

      hi whiteley! I’m no seismologist but i very much doubt that there has been any more earthquakes recently than on average. I think it just feels that way because of the everity of the earthquakes, and with modern media we immdeiately learn about them.

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