Questioning whether global warming is causing earthquakes now?
Canuck
alomst all earthquakes are caused by the earth heating up
and cooling down.
think of a plate as you would any other mass , you heat it up
and it expands , you cool it down and it shrinks.
some earthquakes are caused by the shear weight of the landmass.
take asia for instance this land mass is cooling down greatly this winter and as a result there will be shrinking of the land mass.
next summer asia will be warming up again , thus expansion.
global warming , if you dont already know is not just warming , it is extreme weather patterns that are the result of extreme temperature fluctuations.
we havent even begun to see what global warming can and will do.
the glaciers are melting because the colder periods are shorter
and the warmer periods are longer.
what samwik said is true.
I wonder if warmer oceans might have warmed the crust enough to increase earthquakes.
the oceans play an important role in keeping the earth cool
and any ocean that is now warmer , would be less able to supply its coolness to the earths crust below it , nor to the magma below the crust.
this is due to heat transfer.
when the earth heats up , the magma expands. more volume
when the earth cools down , the magma shrinks. less volume.
global warming causes more water to be lifted from the oceans as water vapor and placed on land as snow and rain , this movement also increases the weight of the landmasses and decreases the weight of the oceans.
which by the way is supported by the earths magma.
yes , global warming causes an increase in earthquakes.
