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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Melting Ice Sheets Can Cause Earthquakes, Study Finds


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Alaska's Columbia Glacier has been retreating in recent years.

A new study has found that melting ice sheets can release pent-up energy and trigger massive earthquakes. A separate, earlier study found that small earthquakes were more common in Alaska in the summers, when ice there was melting.

Photograph by Joe Scherschel/NGS