The slowdown in Earth's rotation could trigger a "swarm of devastating earthquakes" next year, scientists warned.
Although, they argued, such variations in rotation are minimal, they could involve the release of large amounts of underground energy.
Experts from the universities of Colorado in Boulder and Montana in Missoula (United States), warn that "we had it easy this year" with only six severe earthquakes. In 2018, they said we could present at least 20 serious earthquakes, which are expected to occur in tropical regions.
"Small changes in the speed of rotation of our planet would cause great seismic activity by releasing large amounts of underground energy," says the research, which has been rejected by some scientists.
"The correlation between Earth's rotation and seismic activity is strong and suggests that there will be an increase in the number of intense earthquakes next year," argued Roger Bilham and Rebecca Bendick, authors of the research.
Fuente: www.adn40.mx
