Latest Discovery: As Earth's rotation slows down, scientists predict more intense earthquakes

Geologists have warned that deadly earthquakes could become more frequent in the coming year and that they are likely to be caused by the slowing down of the Earth's rotation.

Scientists, who presented their research to the Geological Society of America recently, have found that variations in the speed of the Earth's rotation could set off intense seismic activity, particularly in the tropical-equatorial regions where over a billion people live.

The slowdown in Earth's rotation is small, measuring in milliseconds, reports the Guardian, but enough to release vast amounts of underground energy. The link between seismic activity and the planet's rotation was brought out in a paper by Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado in Boulder and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana in Missoula.

"The correlation between the Earth's rotation and earthquake activity is strong and suggests there is going to be an increase in numbers of intense earthquakes next year," said Bilham.

It is unclear why decreases in the speed of the Earth's rotation should have this effect on the surface, but geological activity deep in the core could possibly be the cause of both slowing down as well as earthquakes. Most of the earthquakes are also likely to happen around the equatorial regions, said Bilham.


Bilham and Bendick also found that there were periods of five-year stretches when the Earth's rotation slowed down over the last century by a millisecond. These periods were followed by periods of massive earthquakes. "The Earth is offering us a five-year heads-up on future earthquakes," said Bilham.

One of the Earth's periodic slowdowns began four years ago and by next year, "we should see a significant increase in numbers of severe earthquakes. We have had it easy this year. So far we have only had about six severe earthquakes. We could easily have 20 a year starting in 2018."

This year has already seen a raft of earthquakes -- most notably the ones that killed hundreds in Greece, Turkey, Southwest China, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, and most recently, Iran. The study indicates the situation about to get worse, with more loss in terms of life and property.

In 2017, so far, 84 earthquakes with a magnitude of between 6 and 6.9 have been recorded, five between 7 and 7.9 and one between 8 and 8.9.