Ecuador And Japan Earthquakes: Could There Be A Connection?

Last week’s large and destructive earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador have a lot of people rattled, both literally and figuratively. While the Earth experiences millions of earthquakes every single year, the vast majority are relatively small, with most so small that they are never felt by humans. Others occur in remote areas of the globe, far away from civilization. Unfortunately, two earthquakes that occurred in Japan last week (a 6.2-magnitude on April 14 and a 7.0-magnitude on April 16) and the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that took place in Ecuador, also on April 16, were felt. They were felt by millions, killed hundreds, injured thousands, and displaced tens of thousands more.

It’s likely because of this widespread impact and destruction, reports CNN, that the Ecuador and Japan earthquakes have so many people concerned and wondering about a possible connection between the seismic events.

So far, there doesn’t seem to be an official consensus as to whether or not the Ecuador and Japan earthquakes are somehow related to each other. According to U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso on Sunday, it’s simply way too soon to tell.

“It’s one day after the Ecuador earthquake and two days after the Japanese earthquake, so no real research has been done on these quakes as far as they’re being connected.”

Referring to the Japan and Ecuador earthquakes, Caruso went on to say that seismologists don’t usually think about earthquakes being connected when they happen across the ocean from each other. However, according to Caruso, scientists are currently researching a phenomenon known as “remote triggering,” which is essentially the idea that a substantially-sized earthquake can cause other quakes long distances away.

The Ecuador and Japan earthquakes definitely occurred a long distance apart; the distance between the two countries is roughly 9,590 miles.

Despite the distance between the Ecuador and Japan earthquakes, the destructive quakes do have at least one thing in common. All three earthquakes occurred in what is known as “the Ring of Fire.” The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe-shaped area defined by the National Geographic Society as “a string of volcanoes and sites of seismic activity, or earthquakes, around the edges of the Pacific Ocean.”

List of recent major Earthquakes shows Pacific Rim (Ring of Fire) having more then a significant associated cluster pic.twitter.com/Fd8LSUqRV2

— Climate Realist (@ClimateRealists) April 17, 2016

Because earthquakes with magnitudes between 7.0 and 7.9 happen only about 15 times per year on average, it may seem more than coincidental that two of those quakes would happen within days of each other. However, roughly 90 percent of all of the earthquakes that occur happen on the Ring of Fire, so it might not be so strange after all, and it might not necessarily point to a direct connection between the Ecuador and Japan earthquakes.

While USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso told the world on Sunday that it was too early to know whether or not there was a connection between the Ecuador and Japan earthquakes, the New York Times went on the record on Sunday to say that according to “the science,” there was no connection.

According to the Times report, the distance between Ecuador and Japan means that no connection between the destructive quakes is possible. The report goes on to say that while large earthquakes can trigger other quakes, the ability to do so is much more localized than what the world witnessed in Japan and Ecuador. It doesn’t mention the possibility of “remote triggering.”

The Ecuador and Japan earthquakes weren’t even the same types of quake, per the report. Rather, the 7.8 earthquake in Ecuador was what is known as a megathrust earthquake, which happens when one of the earth’s tectonic plates is slipping under another; the 7.0 Japan earthquake was not a megathrust event. Instead, it happened at a shallower depth along a strike-slip fault.

The 6.2 Japan earthquake that happened last Thursday, while destructive, is believed to have been among several large foreshocks related to the impending 7.0 earthquake.

As for concerns that earthquake activity may be increasing, the USGS says there is no evidence of that happening and that the number of large quakes annually is actually “remarkably consistent” despite two quakes of 7.0 or larger happening in Japan and Ecuador on the same day.

[Photo by Taro Karibe/Getty Images]