Is A New Age Of Pressure Upon Us? - 16

Pressure changes cause reactions

This Dredd Blog series, which hypothesizes that sea level change (SLC) can trigger geologic activity, began a decade or so ago (May 27, 2010), and has continued off and on since then (Is A New Age Of Pressure Upon Us?, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,11, 12, 13, 14, 15).

A recent paper based upon thousands of years of prehistorical data offers some support for that hypothesis:

"The research finds that lower sea levels, which happen during ice ages, were linked to higher rates of eruption. The researchers believe this result likely holds true for other island volcanoes.

'The mechanism is quite simple,' says Dr Christopher Satow, senior lecturer in physical geography at Oxford Brookes University, UK, and lead author on the paper.

'Falling sea levels remove mass from the Earth’s crust, and the crust fractures as a result. These fractures allow magma to rise and feed eruptions at the surface.'"

(Cosmos Magazine). And conversely, the opposite mechanism is quite simple: "[Rising] sea levels [add] mass [to] the Earth’s crust, and the crust fractures as a result."

It is well known that volcanic activity and earthquakes can be related (USGS) or not (USGS).

The problem with trying to determine if SLC is a factor in any particular earthquake or volcanic event is that there are so many such events and the science is immature.

As it stands now, the evidence would likely have to be circumstantial or extrapolated because not much direct research is being done (NASA Busts The Ghost).

The previous post in this series is here.