Climate change represents a crisis situation not only due to weather changes, but also due to the intensification of disasters such as floods and storms, while it has also unpredictable consequences, such as an increase in neurological diseases and rising food prices, which threaten the lives and daily life of the population.
The consequences of climate change also affect the most dangerous types of earthquakes, and the scientific platform Live Science summarized the connections. According to Live Science, "plate earthquakes" are particularly unpredictable and dangerous. These earthquakes occur in the Earth's plates, which make up the Earth's crust and upper mantle. The heat from the Earth's crust causes these plates to move and smash into each other at an average of 1.5 cm per year, generating energy that can suddenly shift the plates and release seismic energy. John Cassidy, a seismologist at the University of Victoria in Canada, warns that with increasing climate change, these earthquakes will become more frequent and stronger.
Climate change also affects earthquakes, as melting glaciers due to global warming cause the ground beneath them to rise. This phenomenon can work similarly to a situation where a child squeezes a board under water and then releases it - it quickly emerges after the pressure is released. Similarly, the rapid melting of a glacier creates a significant pressure difference that can trigger the movement of a previously "dormant" fault, leading to large earthquakes. However, earthquakes caused by rising sea levels are even more serious, as this phenomenon increases the pressure of water on the bottom of the oceans and, consequently, on faults near the coast. Marco Bonhof, a geophysicist at the Free University of Berlin, warns that some faults near the coast are at the end of their seismic cycle, so even a small increase in pressure can speed up the earthquake cycle. According to Bonhof, even if humanity were to stop emitting greenhouse gases immediately, it could take up to a thousand years for sea levels to recede, during which time the cycle of large coastal earthquakes continues to intensify. Because such assumptions can take centuries to confirm, scientists like Bonhof rely on existing models. For example, a 2023 study that examined water levels in California's Salton Sea over the past millennium revealed that earthquakes near the San Andreas fault occurred more frequently during periods when the lake was full. Although it is not proven that this phenomenon is also predicted in the ocean, Cassidy emphasizes that climate change will make large earthquakes even more dangerous. Rising sea levels will allow tsunamis to penetrate further inland, and rising ocean temperatures will increase rainfall, intensifying the risk of earthquake-triggered landslides. In addition, if water accumulates in the soil due to rainfall, the shocks of the earthquake will be even stronger. The question remains whether these fears will come true. Cassidy adds: “This is an important research topic and we are likely to learn more about it in the coming months and years. But whatever we find out, it certainly won't be good news.” (Co2AI)