In this morning’s Hartford Courant, there is a story about the swarm of earthquakes
recently plaguing eastern Connecticut. (‘Swarm’ of Quakes Has Bit of Mystery,
by Kelly Glista, Section B, page 1, January 14, 2015). The article points out,
“While Connecticut does not lie on a major fault line…minor faults spiderweb
all over the country…”.
Earthquakes are caused by the movement of sections of the
Earth…either slippage or subduction. Connecticut is not known for
earthquakes even though it is known that there are faults that run through the
state, particularly through Moodus.
This is what I think is going on.
Because of climate change/global warming, it is a fact that
the Arctic ice cap is melting. The effect of all this fresh water being put
into the oceans is a matter for a separate essay. For now, lets talk about the weight of the ice that is no longer there.
All that ice had weight and weighed down the land mass under
it. As the ice melts, lessening that weight, the land rebounds. And that is what I think is causing the earthquakes
in eastern Connecticut.
As the land under the arctic ice rebounds it causes changes
in other areas (everything is connected). One area gets to rise up and areas
abounding it get to expand. Those minor faults in Connecticut are expanding,
probably causing slippage (as opposed to subduction). Slippage of one side of a
fault will create quaking of the Earth.
Something to consider.
