{"id":380086,"date":"2010-03-02T03:24:49","date_gmt":"2010-03-02T08:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.disinfo.com\/?p=23662"},"modified":"2010-03-02T03:24:49","modified_gmt":"2010-03-02T08:24:49","slug":"chilean-quake-likely-shifted-earth%e2%80%99s-axis-nasa-scientist-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/380086","title":{"rendered":"Chilean Quake Likely Shifted Earth\u2019s Axis, NASA Scientist Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Earth'sAlex Morales writes on Bloomberg<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth\u2019s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said.<\/p>\n

Earthquakes can involve shifting hundreds of kilometers of rock by several meters, changing the distribution of mass on the planet. This affects the Earth\u2019s rotation, said Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who uses a computer model to calculate the effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe length of the day should have gotten shorter by 1.26 microseconds (millionths of a second),\u201d Gross, said today in an e-mailed reply to questions. \u201cThe axis about which the Earth\u2019s mass is balanced should have moved by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters or 3 inches).\u201d<\/p>\n

The changes can be modeled, though they\u2019re difficult to physically detect given their small size, Gross said. Some changes may be more obvious, and islands may have shifted, according to Andreas Rietbrock, a professor of Earth Sciences at the U.K.\u2019s Liverpool University who has studied the area impacted, though not since the latest temblor.<\/p>\n

Santa Maria Island off the coast near Concepcion, Chile\u2019s second-largest city, may have been raised 2 meters (6 feet) as a result of the latest quake, Rietbrock said today in a telephone interview. He said the rocks there show evidence pointing to past earthquakes shifting the island upward in the past.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read More: Bloomberg<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Possibly Related Posts:<\/h3>\n