This article will look at the causes of earthquakes in the light of the current state of knowledge and compare with the claims of the religious texts, so that we can ask important questions and answer them with authority, and nor hearsay or speculation. Last week an earth quake measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale shook Japan. This is the largest recorded earthquake ever since humans invented devices to measure and record the power of an earthquake. The epicenter of the quake was offshore resulting in a devastating tsunami which caused destruction as far afield as Hawaii and California. So far at least two nuclear power plants have gone into meltdown and releasing dangerous radioactive materials into the atmosphere, triggering large scale evacuations. The unofficial casualties being reported so far is in the neighborhood of a hundred thousand Japanese. So the question is WHY? What causes this to happen? Many religious people believe their god or gods can cause such events for specific reasons. Also all holy texts of the major religions of the world today have some reference to earthquakes being caused by some supernatural agency to accomplish some divine purpose. But is that true? So what is the purpose of earthquakes and why or how do they happen?
Before we can understand earthquakes we must understand the structure of the earth. As we know, the earth is spherical object like an orange that orbits a star that we call sun, due to the pull of gravity. If we could take a knife and slice through the earth, what would we see? Well the outer layer or the surface that we are used to is called the crust. It is about 3 to 10 miles thickness from the ocean floor, and up to 40 miles thick over land. The crust is not smooth, it has mountains, valleys, and even under the ocean there are deep trenches, hills, and undulating features similar to those on land. The chemical composition of the crust is mostly silicon, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus and other elements that sustain life as we know it and from which life on this planet continues to evolve. A very important observation is that the crust is not one single solid entity, but it is rather consists of individual pieces that are moving independently of each other. We call these tectonic plates. A good analogy would be a boiled egg that we are about to peel to eat. As we hit the egg on a hard surface the shell fragments into individual pieces but they are still somehow connected to each other and also to the material below. This is kind of how the tectonic plates are working. So far we have observed that our earth has 12 of these plates and have named some of them the North American plate, the African plate, the Eurasian plate, the Pacific plate, the Philippines plate, the Antarctic plate, and others. The African plate for example carries the African continent and the floor of part of the Atlantic ocean as well as part of the floor of the Indian ocean. Now, where any two plates come in contact with each other we observe one plate sliding over the other or scraping each other laterally. We call this a subdcution zone. Due to this process at most subduction zones we see features such as volcanoes, as well as ridges and trenches at the bottom of the oceans.
So back to our earth we have sliced open with a knife as if it was an orange. After the crust, the next layer we see is called the mantle. The mantle is about 1800 miles thick and constitutes over 85% of the earth’s volume. The mantle consists of mostly rocky materials but due to the excessive pressure they are in liquid or semi solid form. That is why we say the earth mantle is viscous, that is to say it is like a thick soup somehow soft some places solid, that kind of environment. So in effect the plates of the crust are floating on this mantle and as with all liquids and viscous substances there is some form of flow from one direction to the other. This is what causes the crust tectonic plates to be moving about. So to understand earthquakes we must focus on the crust and mantle and the interaction between them. We shall come back to this in a minute.
The third and final layer we see in our sliced open earth, as if it was an orange we have cut open with a knife, is called the core. This is towards the center. The core is about 14% of the earth’s volume, but consisting mainly of iron and nickel, therefore it is extremely dense. The core is located about 3200 miles deep from the earth surface. The temperature here ranges from 4400 to 6100 degrees centigrade. So we can understand how the heat from the core plus the high pressure in the mantle cause the mantle to be molten and also causes currents or convection which is causing the mantle be in a state of constant motion, so the crust plates sitting on the mantle will be in motion all the time as well. So now we have mastered the structure of the earth, we can now discuss what causes earthquakes.
As previously mentioned the tectonic plates are in constant motion as a result of the flow of the viscous mantle. So as previously described, the boundaries (the subduction zone) of the plates may undergo sliding or rubbing against one another. In some case the interlocking nature of these rocky masses may cause the plates to be locked in place temporarily. Once the boundary has locked, continued relative motion between the plates leads to a buildup of stress and therefore, stored strain energy in the volume around the fault surface. When this continues over a period of time and there is no release of the built up stress energy, at some point the plates at the subduction zone can no longer sustain it. This may result in the exposed potions of the plate around the subduction zone undergoing some form of structural failure and the plate sliding back suddenly to restabilize. The stored up stress energy is then released as a combination of vibration (shaking), and heat from friction and cracking of the rock. On the earth surface this sudden motion and release of energy is what we humans experience as an earthquake.
An important factor to note is that earthquakes always mostly take place on or near a subduction zone. If we were to draw all earthquakes ever recorded on a world map, we notice that they always occur near or along tectonic plate boundaries (also called subduction zone). This why there are no earthquakes in Chad, or UK, Greenland and Mali among others but there are plenty in Philippines, Japan, Iran, India and others. This is no accident. Japan for example, the entire nation sits directly on top of the boundary of the Eurasian plate and Pacific plate. Other examples include Philippines, Indonesia and California. Southern Italy is sitting directly on top of the boundary of the African plate and Eurasian plate.
However there are documented cases of earthquakes in places that do not sit on any subduction zone. This puzzled geologists for many years. Today we know the reason for this. There are other tectonic minor fault lines in some of the tectonic plates and if these fault lines connect back into a subduction zone, if there is an earthquake on the subduction zone, some of the energy can be transmitted along this minor fault line and be felt as an earthquake also even though it may be far from the original epicenter. An example of this is Ghana. There is a fault line in the African plate that runs from Akwapim area south through McCarthy Hill-Weija area in Accra and then moves south into the Atlantic ocean. It continues and connects into the subducton zone of the African Plate and North American plate somewhere half between West Africa and Brazil. That is the reason earthquakes are also experienced in Ghana and some few other places that do not sit on subduction zones.
Earthquakes are usually accompanied by aftershocks where the ground responds and readjust to the impact of the main event. Some other effects include volcanic activity, landslides, liquefaction, and tsunami. Liquefaction occurs in areas with loose granular soils and high water table. As the shaking occurs the water may rise in the loose soils causing the soils to become so soft that buildings will simply sink into the ground. If the earthquake occurs out in the ocean the shaking and movement of the ocean floor itself can cause massive waves that then move to hit coastal areas, this is called a tsunami.
So as we can see earthquake is a very well studied phenomenon and today we humans know quite a bit about them. We don’t everything about them yet but we are making good progress. We need to train more geologists to conduct research on earthquake phenomena, more engineers to design buildings and structures that can remain safe and serviceable during earthquakes, and also we need more public education particularly on how we should behave during such events so we don’t scatter and stampede and kill or injure even more people after the earthquake event itself. So we can now review some of the claims of our religious texts and see if they stand up to the test of the facts.
In Hinduism, the Vedanta perspective indicates there is nothing that occurs by accident and some gurus teach that these are incidents that occur the causes for it cannot not be inferred by looking at a local scale, and that we need to recognize the play of the Lord Krishna in giving the results according to ones own karma phala and that the law of karma applies to us individually and also collectively.
Comment: So Hinduism teaches that earthquakes and the destruction meted out on the people is actually a direct consequence of the actions of those people. The problem is there is no evidence to back this up. So how are the mantle and the tectonic plates correlated to people’s actions during their lives? The Hindu texts have not demonstrated a shred of evidence to support their claims, it has to be believed by faith alone.
The Christian bible mentions earthquake 20 times. The bible also alludes to earthquakes in many instances though not mentioning it by name directly. For brevity we shall select a few cases and assess them.
Psalms 104:32 (NKJV) HE LOOKS ON THE EARTH, AND IT TREMBLES; He touches the hills, and they smoke.
Comment: The trembling of the earth in other words earthquake is caused by God simply looking on the earth? And he touches hills and they smoke? This is ostensibly referring to volcanoes. So is that how volcanoes happen? I shall address that phenomenon in another article.
Job 9:6 (NKJV) He shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble;
Comment: So according to Job, the earth sits on pillars and God can shake the pillars out of its place. The problem is the earth does not sit on any pillars. Job is wrong. He is assuming that is the case and then goes further to make the claim that these pillars can be shaken (earthquake) by God. This is all false and has zero evidence to back it up. So the question is why does God sit there idle instead of correcting his holy words and letting us get the correct information?
Matthew 24:7 (NKJV) "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
Comment: How does this prove anything? Before the Bible was written nations, tribes, and competing political entities were killing themselves and raping each other’s wives for generations. Why is this statement here any better than others ? There have always been earthquakes, and there always will be as long as this earth survives. Earthquake is part and parcel of the earth itself, there will be no escaping them. Asking for earthquakes to stop is like asking the salt in the sea to go away because you have high blood pressure. But without the salt there would be no sea, and no sea means no fish. And by the way it is worth noting that life as we know it today began in the sea and later evolved onto land. So if earthquakes are already happening, how does another one happening prove or verify anything?
Luke 21:10-11 Then Jesus said to his disciples:
"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven." Jesus says, "For behold I come quickly
Comment: Nations rising against nations has been going on for thousands of years even before the bible was ever written. What makes it different now? Now that we are becoming more educated and more peaceful a time will come this quotation will be meaningless. The same with earthquakes, the tectonic processes for the next earthquake are already underway, how come God never mentioned that, and are prayers from Christian working to stop those tectonic plate movements?
Revelation 16:18-20
And there was an earthquake so tremendous that none like it had occurred since humankind has been on the earth. The cities of the nations collapsed. Every island vanished. And no mountains were to be found.
Comment: For this to happen there must subduction zones and interconnected fault line that can distribute the power of one earthquake to every corner of the earth during one brief event. No such connectivity exists. There has been no earthquake in London because no subduction zone passes through there and no fault line reaches there. So we know this claim is false. Earthquakes occur along the subduction zones, they cant happen all over the world at the same time and destroy every country at the same time. Including tsunamis that will make all islands and mountains vanish? I thought God said he would not destroy the earth with a flood anymore. A very silly claim by an illiterate bible author.
The holy book of Islam describes circumstances leading to earthquakes.
They killed the she-camel and defied their Lord’s command and they said, “O Salih! Bring to us that punishment which you promise us if you are from amongst the Messengers”. The earthquake seized them and they became faced down laid in their houses. (Surah 7:77-78)
The earthquake seized them and they became prostrate on their knees in their homes. Those who rejected Shuayb (alayhis’ salam) seemed as though they never lived in those homes and those who rejected Shuayb (alayhis’ salam) they were the losers. (Surah 7:91-92)
Comment: How does an earthquake seize somebody? So we can infer from these texts that earthquake can be a direct consequence of the human actions particularly wrongdoing. But again where is the proof? There is none.
The underlying similarity of the religious texts all over the world is that none of them, not even one, correctly describes the structure of the earth and how that by itself makes it certain and undeniable that there will always be earthquakes for as long as the earth exists. No mention of tectonic plates, viscous mantle, superhot inner core and so on and so forth. Thinking that there will be an end to earthquakes on this earth someday is like thinking sunlight and rainfall will someday be extinct. Yes earthquake is as natural as night and day and has zero input from any god. Zero. All the religious books are totally wrong on that point and we know this as a fact. Earthquake has nothing to do with any god but is an event based on natural processes alone.
Should we pray for Japan?
Answer: praying has no impact on earthquakes. The process causing earthquakes has nothing to do with any prayers, it is about plate tectonics and the fluid mechanics of the mantle. And why would we pray for Japan anyway? Japan is a country where the overwhelming majority are not religious and have long abandoned belief in fairies and deities as they have applied their brain cells to become a world economic power in less than two generations. In fact as we speak, the process of tectonic motion and locking for the next earthquake has already begun, why don’t we pray to stop that? Yet uneducated religious folks are screaming to imaginary beings all night to save them from earthquakes. Are they insane? They want god to suspend nature? How? So are they pleased if god suspends nature and stops rains, or they only want to suspend parts of nature that harm them How? So why did God simply not hold the tectonic plate in place and prevent this whole thing from happening and causing us all this grief? Or was this earthquake from Satan rather? And why did Yahweh not stop him?
My local TV station is soliciting prayers so that the nuclear reactors don’t blow up and release radiation. This is silly. It is humans who have tinkered with nature to produce atomic energy, and they (or we) are the one responsible for the outcomes. Not an imaginary illiterate tribal god from Israel who thinks a whale is a fish. If anyone wishes to help Japan in cash or kind at this difficult time I strongly advise that they do so through the appropriate channels, however praying to an imaginary being wont do anything Currently we are destroying the environment and causing climate change etc yet we are praying to a god for solutions. Are we that silly?
Is the earth perfectly designed by an omniscient god?
Answer: Based on earthquake, no. Why could this omniscient being not figure out a better way of designing the earth so that earthquakes don’t happen and kill thousands in specific countries every year. Why could Yahweh not have designed the earth with a solid mantle so the plates don’t move at all, duh? Besides, how come none of the above information about mantle, plate tectonics etc is not mentioned anywhere in the bible, not even once, but instead illiterate statements
Is earthquake a divine event?
Answer: I doubt it. What is the divine revelation behind the earthquake in Haiti, among the poorest countries in the world. Up till now they are still sleeping in tents in the street in their own country. Then this divine being is malevolent and unethical.
Its time to retire these anaerobic fairy tales and actually apply our collective brain cells to understand science. I know it is hard and sometimes studying is not easy and therefore we prefer to believe fuzzy fancy tales. We need to wake up
kwaku ba, March 2011
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