Today’s interesting fact has to do with earthquakes.

Earthquakes are caused when tectonic plates slip past, under or over other tectonic plates.

You wouldn’t think that changes in sea level, or changes in the atmosphere could cause earthquakes, but recent studies of the frequency of earthquakes along fault lines and comparing sea levels and atmospheric changes have shown some surprising results.

When El Nino, a weather phenomenon occurs, it moves water from one side of the Pacific Ocean to the other. 

This can cause variations of more than 20 cm in the sea level in some areas.

They found that during the lowest levels, earthquakes can increase from the yearly average of 2 a year, to 8 a year.

Similar studies have suggested that earthquakes are more likely during atmospheric low pressure, than high pressure.

It seems that less pressure on faults allows them to move easier.

Which when you think of it, makes a lot of sense.