Full moon might be the cause behind earthquakes: Myth busted

For decades mankind feared the full moon that was speculated to be the cause of numerous earthquakes occurring on Earth. However, a recent study initiated by a seismologist, Susan Hough from the US Geological Survey confirmed that this idea is nothing but a myth. During her research, Hough compared a large array of 204 major earthquakes that occurred in the duration of last 400 years with each full that occurred during this time.

Contrary to the popular belief, the researcher didn’t find any evidence that could relate the occurrence of an earthquake to a full moon. The findings of this research are published in the journal Seismological Research Letters. Hough said that the statistical analysis of the occurrence of a full moon in relation to the earthquakes didn’t show any apparent signal that is relatively significant for the two to coincide. However, there is a lot about full moons and earthquakes to be studied like in the case were numerous earthquakes have aligned in a single day with no famous lore associated with the same.

Susan also pointed out to the fact that her research did not completely rule out the moon’s influence over the initiation of earthquakes. She stated that there is some influence of moon over the earthquakes but not to such an extent that one can rely on the full moon as a source of predicting potential earthquakes.

Hough, along with her team created a pattern in accordance with the quakes by randomizing their dates. Hough realized that this particular pattern is similar to flipping a coin, which means, one can get more than six tails in a single go.

Now, if it isn’t the full moon that causes the quakes, what could be the potential cause? As reported by Hogue, the best indicator of any major earthquake is slight tremors in the nearby areas. These small tremors could lead to a major earthquake within a time span of three years or more.

A seismologist, Mark Quigley, at the Melbourne University stated that the waves passing from an earthquake occurring at a distant location can be the reason for small earthquakes to occur. Like for example, if Alaska receives an earthquake, the seismic waves originating from the same could cause small but significant quakes in the western section of United States which is located at a distance of 1000 kilometers.