Can climate change trigger earthquakes?

[kadiot]

I joined Dystopia Manila anthology book project.

It’s a collection of one-shot stories with two very important elements:

1. A climate change crisis that humans failed to address; and

2. A dystopian, sci-fi story that is set in a futuristic Metro Manila I'm wondering if climate change triggers earthquake. If so, is that possible in Metro Manila?

Thank you.

 

[Melbourne Guy]

There is a good overview of climate change and potential links to earthquakes at NASA, @kadiot. The science is unclear, but depending on how far in the future you are, you can probably set up any reasonable trigger for an earthquake in Manila and blame it on climate change. Perhaps the loss of ice in the poles is causing Earth's rotation to change slightly and 'slosh' the continental plates?

 

[fresh_42]

I'm wondering if climate change triggers earthquake.

Yes, in rare cases if a glacier melted and, e.g. pressure is thus removed from an area with volcanic activity. And volcanic activities can be accompanied by seismic activities. I doubt that such a scenario can make a difference for major earthquakes, hence it depends on what you call an earthquake.

If so, is that possible in Metro Manila?

Earthquakes, yes, due to climate change, probably not.

 

[Rive]

Not directly related to climate change, but this seems to work too.

 

[Nik_2213]

One of the Southern Italian volcanoes seems sensitive to ground-water such, several weeks after heavy rain, time for water to seep deep, it tends to get 'uppity', coughing, sneezing, barfing SO2 and the occasional rock.

IIRC, did this twice last autumn, after severe, unseasonal storms...

Dam builders are aware that rapidly filling or emptying retained lake may cause minor quakes. Hopefully, such cyclic, usually seasonal changes don't fatigue larger, 'inactive' faults unto 'nasty'. Snag is exceptional rain, such as a 'stationary' hurricane / typhoon or a persistent 'atmospheric river' may not only cause excessive erosion in catchment, but rapidly fill dam, loading local faults much faster than usual.

Another dire gotcha is that changing pore pressures along banks may de-stabilise cliffs. Some mega-tonnes of rock-fall or land-slide is multiple types of 'Bad News'...

FWIW, IIRC, the massive glacial collapse at Lituya Bay not only spawned an epic tsunami in fiord, but registered as a significant earth-quake. Polar regions' warming is expected to make such events more common.

Tangential, the summits of many snow-capped volcanoes seem bound by permafrost. Thawing those may un-lid the beast, hopefully with only modest, flank eruptions rather than full-on, with 'Harmonic Tremor' then a Plinian whoosh...

 

[kadiot]

Many thanks for the replies.

The title of my short story is “The Big One".

The “Big One” is a worst-case scenario of an earthquake from the West Valley Fault, a 100-kilometer fault that runs through six cities in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. A tsunami is also foreseen in the scenario set by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs)

 

[kadiot]

I want you to read the short story I wrote, but I can't post it publicly. If I do that, the publisher may decline my submission.

Anyway, thank you again for the helpful information you guys provided.