The scientists believe that earthquakes affect the Sun and the Moon

American scientists came to the conclusion that weak earthquakes can be caused by the combined influence of the Sun and moon.

The researchers studied the cause of low-frequency earthquakes, which are a subspecies of slow earthquakes that don’t cause significant damage. During slow earthquakes, tectonic plates have shifted for several hours, or months, without causing damage. The strength of these earthquakes does not exceed units of intensity.

In their study, the scientists studied about 81 thousands of low-frequency earthquakes that occurred in the period from 2008 to 2015 in the town of Parkfield from fault San Andreas, and compared them with the frequency of the tidal cycle of the Sun and moon. Scientists have found that earthquakes occur during the increasing moon, often closer to the time of the new moon.

Understanding when there is a slow earthquake, will allow to predict more severe events, since weak shocks are often precursors to large earthquakes.

Previously, scientists came to the conclusion that the deepest earthquakes may be a seasonal phenomena. According to scientists, the seasonal trend is not observed for small earthquakes or small tremors. Seasonal are earthquakes with magnitude above 7 points and occurring at a depth of more than 500 kilometers. The reason for this behavior of earthquakes scientists can’t explain.

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