3 ms·
I doubt the rumblings of our transportation activity has much impact on earthquakes. The energy put out by a jetliner landing or the heaviest of trucks rolling
by dogsgobork 7y ago
I doubt the rumblings of our transportation activity has much impact on earthquakes. The energy put out by a jetliner landing or the heaviest of trucks rolling by is minuscule, and typically earthquakes occur at depths measured in kilometers. Our seismic sensors are only several meters in depth, or at the surface, making them more susceptible to the seismic noise of our small man-made sources.
- lmilcin 7y agoSeismic activity at a low level is triggered by much smaller forces. A small shock like a truck can cause two pieces of rock that are in tension to move against each other, causing a tremor. Same way as water can be overheated or supercooled when there is no trigger present, impurity or shock that will localize the start of reaction, the Earth crust can store a little bit of extra energy when there is not enough trigger. This is only temporary effect, after some time the level will come back even without increase in human activity. When human activity is restored what you can expect is seismic activity above normal levels, for some time until the stored energy is dissipated.
- pixl97 7y agoHuman locomotion activity is still tiny in those regards. A much bigger effect is the amount of water we pump and move which is very heavy and can directly induce earthquakes.
- bacon_waffle 7y ago...or oil we pump, right?
- redtexture 7y agoOklahoma residents and seismologists report fewer micro tremors on weekends when oil well fracking is not pushing fluids into wells.