Rise in seismic activity?

May 10, 2021
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I see a lot of earthquakes/volcanism in the news recently. Is there some analysis confirming global increase in seismic activity?
Would also like to see the statistics for the last couple of decades..
 
I see a lot of earthquakes/volcanism in the news recently. Is there some analysis confirming global increase in seismic activity?
Would also like to see the statistics for the last couple of decades..
It happens all the time. This is just on too large a timescale to be of signifigance. Volcanism has been slowing down since the end of the late heavy bombardment I believe, but It may just be that the news fells the need to report it or you are experiencing the human condition of making patterns when there are none. But I will try to procure your data :)
 
May 10, 2021
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Thanks for replies,
I understand that we cannot know for sure what was the frequency of earthquakes up to the time of modern seismology and, according to the link provided, there is no increase in frequency for earthquakes of magnitude 7 and up from 1980 to 2010, but what about those of smaller magnitude and data up to 2021?
 
Thanks for replies,
I understand that we cannot know for sure what was the frequency of earthquakes up to the time of modern seismology and, according to the link provided, there is no increase in frequency for earthquakes of magnitude 7 and up from 1980 to 2010, but what about those of smaller magnitude and data up to 2021?
Maybe, I'll see if I can find that, but it could just be better monitoring and precision. There have been a few examples of human-caused fracking earthquakes, but those are rare and minor.
 
May 10, 2021
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If we're talking about geological scales (millions of years) then yes, this would require an increase in internal energy. But I was thinking more of this century.
We alread know that human activity causes weak earthquakes, but it appears there is a possibility that stronger earthquakes are increasing too or will increase due to human activity, with climate change - ie. with melting ice on the poles, significant redistribution of mass is happening, affecting levels of stress on the crust and may even induce volcanism.
We have moved a lot of energy from the crust to the atmosphere and Earth's energy budget is not in balance any more - more energy is received (from the Sun) than it is radiated away.
Positive feedback effects will further increase energy in atmosphere, but will certainly affect the crust too.
Temperature and pressure are correlated, and stronger buildups/releases of pressure within the crust and increase in frequency of earthquakes cannot be ruled out.
 

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