Global Warming ---> earthquakes?

[lovett]

How do you know that its monsoons affecting the earthquakes, rather than earthquakes affecting the monsoons? You have supplied no proof to prove one way or the other.

Well, when I questioned the mechanism put forward with which earthquakes might affect the monsoon, I was told that 'its was sombody elses theory' and that I should 'go ask them' . This is hardly the makings of a well supported arguement.

In contrast, look back abit and you'll see two different mechanisms explaining how rainfall can affect plate tectonics, both supported by respectable references.

 

[BasketCase]

Lovett, the web site I linked already has an explanation of how earthquakes might affect storms: by releasing underground gases and producing charged ions. It is their theory, not mine. I don't know how any of it works, because I'm not a goddamned meteorologist. Christ.

This is hardly the makings of a well supported arguement.

Lovett, the argument was not mine. It was made by whoever wrote the article printed in that web site I linked. It's their argument you questioned, not mine. They're the ones who know the science behind it.

 

[BasketCase]

Whoa, stop the press a second. I got ahead of myself here.

That link I posted, with a theory on how earthquakes cause storms rather than the other way around? The web site itself does not call that idea a fact--it's a theory.

Which means I'm free and clear. You asked for an explanation of how earthquakes can cause storms? You got one. Just because it's not proven true doesn't mean it's proven false. It's unproven. In other words, unknown.

If you say it's definitely false, well, now you're making a definite claim, and it's up to you to either prove it or quote someone else who has.

 

[lovett]

You asked for an explanation of how earthquakes can cause storms?

Im afraid I didn't. I asked how an earthquake could significantly affect monsoons. As the link you posted only suggests earthquakes affect storms for a few days prior to the the event, its not really pertinent to the discussion imo.

 

[BasketCase]

Im afraid I didn't. I asked how an earthquake could significantly affect monsoons.

Stretch your imagination a little. Suppose simply that an earthquake's influence on the weather is greater than expected. And there you have it.

Until this thread got started, it never even occurred to me that an earthquake could cause any kind of weather changes at all. That has changed. You must consider the possibility that earthquakes have effects you aren't aware of. My link opened the dam; the possibility is definitely there.

In any case, if you believe there's a correlation between major storms and earthquakes, you still have yet to prove that the correlation is "storms cause earthquakes" rather than the opposite. You did post a couple of ways in which it can happen, but that's not enough for you to move from "it can happen" to "it does happen".

The web site I linked says this:

While no particular type of weather causes earthquakes, there may be circumstances in which factors combine to signal changes happening in the earth below.

Their answer to "storms cause earthquakes" is a definite "no".

 

[lovett]

A monsoon is not a storm. A monsoon is more like a season. To be exact, a seasonal prevailing wind.

To extrapolate the infomation your link suggests onto prevailing wind is, honestly, more the stretching my imagination a little.

 

[BasketCase]

Something to clarify then: wherever you typed "monsoon", I was reading "storm".

As to the effects earthquakes have on long-term wind patterns--see my first post in this thread.

 

[lovett]

"Monsoons are caused by the larger amplitude of the seasonal cycle of land temperature compared to that of nearby oceans. This differential warming happens because heat in the ocean is mixed vertically through a "mixed layer" that may be fifty metres deep, through the action of wind and buoyancy-generated turbulence, whereas the land surface conducts heat slowly, with the seasonal signal penetrating perhaps a metre or so. Additionally, the specific heat of liquid water is significantly higher than that of most materials that make up land. Together, these factors mean that the heat capacity of the layer participating in the seasonal cycle is much larger over the oceans than over land, with the consequence that land warms faster and reaches a higher temperature than the ocean. The hot air over the land tends to rise, creating an area of low pressure. This creates a steady wind blowing toward the land, bringing the moist near-surface air over the oceans with it. Similar rainfall is caused by the moist ocean air being lifted upwards by mountains, surface heating, convergence at the surface, divergence aloft, or from storm-produced outflows at the surface. However the lifting occurs, the air cools due expansion in lower pressure, which in turn produces condensation.

In winter, the land cools off quickly, but the ocean keeps the heat longer. The hot air over the ocean rises, creating a low pressure area and a breeze from land to ocean while a large area of drying high pressure is formed over the land, increased by wintertime cooling. Monsoons are similar to sea breezes, a term usually referring to the localized, diurnal (daily) cycle of circulation near coastlines everywhere, but they are much larger in scale, stronger and seasonal."

Incidentally, you first post states that mountain ranges affect weather patterns, which they do-extensively.
However, mountain ranges are formed by completely different tectonic movements then earthquakes. Earthquakes are caused predominantly by transform boundries (sideways plate movements) whereas mountain ranges are found on convergent boundries (AKA destructive). Completely different things, surely?

 

[BasketCase]

Wait--your last post made me realize that whole question is moot.

The part that reminded me was this:

with the consequence that land warms faster and reaches a higher temperature than the ocean

During the day, the land is warmer than the ocean--and during the night, the land is colder. What this means is that the land undergoes a large change in temperature every single day. A much greater temperature change than occurs when the land gets rained on, and a lot more stress than can be delivered by the weight of water dumped on the ground.

Therefore the answer to the thread question becomes "definitely not". Daily temperature changes already put a lot more stress on a fault line than a storm or a seasonal monsoon would. In fact, by cooling the ground, storms and monsoons may actually reduce earthquakes.......


Edit: Hold the phone. So what if a monsoon isn't a storm??? The whole question of how weather can cause earthquakes concerns water landing on the ground. If monsoons cause earthquakes, then the water needs to get to the ground somehow. In other words, you need a storm. And earthquakes still provide the mechanism for that to happen: by releasing particles of dust into the atmosphere so raindrops can form. To wit--I call "nitpick" on your arguments about monsoons vs. storms.