NEW YORK -- The massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that shook Japan and triggered a powerful tsunami on Friday has had a profound effect on both the surrounding terrain and the planet as a whole.
Dr. Daniel McNamara, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told The Huffington Post that the disaster left a gigantic rupture in the sea floor, 217-miles long and 50 miles wide. It also shifted Japan's coast by eight feet in some parts, though McNamara was quick to explain much of the coast likely didn't move as far.
McNamara found the way in which the quake actually sunk the elevation of the country's terrain to be more troublesome than coastal shifting. "You see cities still underwater; the reason is subsidence," he said. "The land actually dropped, so when the tsunami came in, it's just staying."
In the aftermath of the largest earthquake in Japan's history, scientists have scrambled to gather concrete data to quantify such a powerful tremor's effect on the Earth. But the numbers don't always add up. For example, McNamara pointed out that reports claiming the sea floor's rift measured 93 miles wide are incorrect.
Additionally, conflicting reports over whether and how far the enormous tremor shifted the Earth's axis have been circulating.
According to CNN, the earthquake moved the planet's axis approximately 4 inches, though other sources, like The Vancouver Sun and The Montreal Gazette, report the estimate even higher -- around 10 inches.
"I don't know about that. That sounds extreme," McNamara said, claiming the smaller estimate was likely more accurate. "There are all kinds of different numbers floating around," he added.
Conflicting figures aside, the shift in the Earth's axis wouldn't be noticeable. Last year's 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile, which also reportedly moved the planet's axis slightly, only resulted in shortening the day by 1.26 microseconds. (A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.)
As for any claims that the earthquake somehow relates to climate change, McNamara didn't hesitate to dismiss that connection. He explained that while evidence shows melting glaciers can cause small tremors directly underneath as their weight on the Earth's crust reduces, what happened in Japan "is not connected in any way to that process."
In a prior interview with The Huffington Post, McNamara said Japan's 8.9 quake was "not a surprise" due to how active the region is, but maintained that scientists "can't predict earthquakes."
Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/12/japan-earthquake-axis-shift-climate-change_n_834985.html
