As powerful as the tsunami was, I doubt it will have any permanent effects on the Earth's rotation. The explosion of the Krakatoa volcano (on the island of Krakatau between Sumatra and Java) a century ago was far more powerful, and temporarily changed the earth's climate for half a decade. Some facts:
-- The explosion was heard across one-thirteenth of the earth's surface.
-- At least 36,000 were killed; over 165 coastal villages were destroyed.
-- After the eruption ended, only one-third of the island remained above sea level (it was formerly 50 square kilometers). New islands were created to the north where the sea was previously 36 meters deep.
-- Tsunamis over 40 meters high were generated, hurling ashore blocks of coral reef that had been torn loose. Some weighed as much as 720 tons.
-- Fine ash and aerosol were sent over 50 kilometers into the stratosphere. Sunsets were so vividly red that fire engines in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven (on the other side of the globe) were repeatedly called to put out the apparent fires. The sunsets continued for three years.
-- Rafts of floating pumice that solidified after the eruption made their way across the Indian Ocean. Others reached Melanesia, and were still afloat two years after the eruption.
-- The volcanic dust veil also acted as a solar radiation filter, lowering global temperatures as much as 3 degrees Fahrenheit in the year after the eruption. Temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.
See
here for more on what was arguably the most devastating geologic event in recorded history. The Earth's rotation did little then; I would argue that there's little to worry about now either.
In any case, all this worrymongering over the Earth's axis shifting is silly. Even if it
is shifting, what are we supposed to do about it? It's not as though we can hire Superman to turn back time. And we can't take the Jules Verne/
The Core approach and tunnel to the Earth's center, where we'll proceed to detonate atomic bombs to "restart" the Earth's rotation. (If you're wondering how a radial explosion can impart angular momentum, you're in the same boat as me in thinking that movie was stupid.)
Quote:Original post by Dmytry
i'm now is in very seismically-inactive place. Several months ago, there were minor earthquake(but quite noticeable), and enough to make things in house produce some bit scaring noises. (and closer to epicentre, several buildings was non-seriously damaged, without any accidents). Last time such happened 50 or so years ago...
So seems that frequency of such events in the world somehow increased.
If events like the one you describe (i.e., minor earthquakes) only happen once every fifty years, isn't that consistent with your previous statement that the area is seismically inactive? One minor earthquake every fifty years hardly justifies the leap of logic to "the frequency of such events in the world" increasing.
