The Rain and the Quake

USU researcher Anthony Lowry is working with the U.S. Geological Survey to determine whether or not water saturation can increase the likelihood of an earthquake. Lowry says that rainwater can exert enough stress to set up resonances along a fault and that stress resonance could set up a peculiar type of earthquake that releases as much energy as a magnitude 6.5 or 7.0 tremblor, but does so over weeks and months, and doesn’t register on seismometers. Lowry studies these so-called “silent” quakes and has found seasonal variations. Lowry says that understanding the causes behind seasonal patterns in silent quakes might eventually lead to the ability to predict quakes in the future.

From, “California’s Cloudbursts Pave the Way for Quakes,” by Michael Reilly, New Scientist, March 8, 2007. For more information, contact USU geologist Anthony Lowry [ARLOWRY@cc.usu.edu], 435-797-7096.