Is Global Warming Responsible?

Question

I have read recently that Global Warming is responsible; not only for extremes in Weather events, or mass extinctions in changing climates, but for the increase of Large Earthquakes throughout the world. Okay, I understand the part that has to do with our Atmosphere, but Earthquakes? How the heck does more CO2 and Methane make us have more of those?

Please cite your sources, and no, wikipedia is not the source of all knowledge. What is the Connection, or is there any at all?

Answer 1

Global warming is the warming up of the planet above the temperature it "should" be. It is such a concern at the moment as it seems that the temperature is rising at a rate far faster than ever before and it is thought that it may be the activities of the human population over the last 150 years or so that is doing it.

Global warming is the single biggest threat to wildlife today.

Scientists have told us that we must reduce global warming pollution by 80% by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. They have set the goal, now we have to set the pace. We can get there by reducing global warming pollution by 2% every year for the next 40 years.

The Antarctic Peninsula is particularly sensitive to small rises in the annual average temperature, this has increased about 2.5�C in the region in the last 50 years, this is 2 or 3 times faster than the average in the rest of the world. The temperature of Antarctica as a whole is predicted to rise by a small amount over the next 50 years. Any increase in the rate of ice melting is expected to be at least partly offset by increased snowfall as a result of the warming.

Answer 2

I read a ridiculous article last week about claims in Iceland that melting ice would reduce the load and create more earthquakes.  The problem is first that the ice is extremely minimal when it compared to the underlying rock and that earthquakes are caused by other forces.  Overlying pressure released might form small quakes but it is nothing to be worried about.  It is just another example where scientists are trolling for a piece of the global warming funding pie and in this case it was particularly egregious.

Answer 3

just some more sh*t so those hoaxers er..scientists can get more grants.

Answer 4

Maybe.

The concept is that, as glaciers melt, they reduce the weight upon the surface.  If there's an upward force present (as is usually the case) the surface "rebounds".  That can cause earthquakes.  Small ones have greatly increased in the area of Greenland, a prime place where ice is melting bigtime.

Göran Ekström,Meredith Nettles, Victor C. Tsai, Seasonality and Increasing Frequency of Greenland Glacial Earthquakes, Science 24 March 2006:Vol. 311. no. 5768, pp. 1756 - 1758 DOI: 10.1126/science.1122112

Serious research geologists don't consider this ridiculous.  Below are two sample papers, from the extensive scientific literature about it.

Wu, P. & P. Johnston (2000), "Can deglaciation trigger earthquakes in N. America?" Geophysical Research Letters, 27, 1323-1326

Sella, G.F., Stein, S., Dixon, T.H., Craymer, M., James, T.S., Mazzotti, S., Dokka, R.K. (2007) "Observation of glacial isostatic adjustment in ‘‘stable’’ North America with GPS". Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L02306, doi:10.1029/2006GL027081