The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #76827   Message #1364979
Posted By: wysiwyg
27-Dec-04 - 07:37 AM
Thread Name: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
Co-seismic Excitation of Earth Rotational and Gravitational Changes At a Glance

A seismic event, apart from the "shaking" that is the earthquake, leaves behind permanent, step-function-like dislocations in the Earth. This redistribution of mass changes the Earth's inertia tensor; and the Earth's rotation will change according to the conservation of angular momentum. Such is the co-seismic excitation of Earth rotation changes. Similarly this mass redistribution causes the Earth's gravitational field to undergo slight changes expressible in terms of changes in its harmonic Stokes coefficients. The question is whether such excitations are large enough to be of any significance or consequence. The answer is mixed, as highlighted below...