The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile was one the most powerful in recorded history. The Chile earthquake hit on Saturday February 27 at 06:34 GMT. A curious coincidence was the earthquake occurred just before the full moon’s perigee. Perigee is when the moon is at its closest point to earth. The moon’s distance to the earth varies during its orbit and sometimes is at its closest (perigee), sometimes at its furthest (apogee). Perigee was 15 hours after the earthquake, on February 27 at 21:41 GMT. At the same time the moon was waxing 99% full.
Adding to the strangeness was a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit Japan a day earlier at 20:31 GMT Friday.
The moon affects our tides. The tides are strongest when the moon is full, lined up straight with the earth and sun. The result is something called a spring tide, which is when the tides are highest. When the moon is at perigee its gravitational strength is also nearly 50% greater.
Did the moon’s gravity trigger the Chile earthquake? It seems like an awfully strange coincidence. There have been theories that when the planets line up in our solar system, it will create disastrous earthquakes and earth changes. This has never happened since the planets are too far away for their gravity to have an influence on the earth. The sun and moon are a different story, as their influence on our tides show. When the conditions are just right, perhaps the stress of tidal forces on our crust can trigger the earth to shake.
Update: Thursday March 4th a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan, described as “This is the biggest quake to hit this region in more than a century,” according to the director of the Central Weather Bureau’s Seismology Center.
February 28th, 2010 at 9:24 am
This is a very logical non-superstitious belief compared to the Haiti earthquake and Nostradamus hulabaloo I’ve been seeing on the web. It’s about time we stop looking at the fantastic angle of events (no matter how paranormal) but instead look at the facts of life.
February 28th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Hi Jr,
I think science mostly discounts the possiblity of the moon causing earthquakes. Yet it can’t be totally discounted, and with the Chile earthquake is a hint there might be some connection with the moon.
Dave
February 28th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
It is, in my opinion, a mistake to discount potential factors in a very complex system.
March 1st, 2010 at 12:27 am
Stephanie,
I agree. I also like the stories of animals that seem to sense a disturbance in the earth before an earthquake happens. I have not seen any stories about this from Chile yet, but I am keeping my eyes open.
Dave
March 4th, 2010 at 1:49 am
This article while highlighting an interesting theory about the moon’s effect on earthquakes is totally incorrect. Perigee was actually in January of 2010 not February. Perigee took place with the full moon on January the 30th…
March 4th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Hi Justin,
I used this site: http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html to see when perigee took place. It happens quite often in a year.
Perigee
———————————
Jan 1 20:37 358682 km F+1d 1h
Jan 30 9:04 356592 km ++ F+ 2h
Feb 27 21:41 357831 km F- 18h
Mar 28 4:57 361876 km F-1d21h
Apr 24 21:00 367141 km F-3d15h
May 20 8:40 369728 km N+6d 7h
Jun 15 14:55 365936 km N+3d 3h
Jul 13 11:22 361114 km N+1d15h
Aug 10 17:57 357857 km N+ 14h
Sep 8 4:02 357191 km N- 6h
Oct 6 13:42 359452 km N-1d 5h
Nov 3 17:23 364188 km N-2d11h
Nov 30 19:10 369438 km N-4d22h
Dec 25 12:25 368462 km F+4d 4h
March 6th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
I recently watched a documentary on either the National Geographic or History channel that centered around a scientist who predicted a number of major earthquakes around the world (including the one that struck San Francisco during the world series). His success rate was astonishing but he was censured and ordered to stop his predictions as they were causing panic and unrest. Hey! I heard recently that Galileo has been forgiven for saying that the earth orbits around the sun. Maybe we could use the same Occam’s razor to cut through this clash of thinking.
March 6th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
A recent documentary centered around a man who used this correlation between full moon perigee and earthquakes around the world with astonishing success (including the one in San Francisco during the world series). He was censured and ordered to stop since he was causing panic and unrest. In the documentary he credits the inspiration for the thesis to a Chilean who said, “we watch the full moon and then we wait for the earthquake.”
March 27th, 2010 at 6:42 am
I had noticed the correlation of the lunar phase and the earthquakes. If I read the above chart correctly do I understand the next perigree to be tomorrow but that it will not be near as close as the previous 3. I had predicted we would see another quake tomorrow but this data if I read it right tells me we may be safe till sometime next year. Tectonic Geo De stabilization is a real issue caused by many factors the chief one I feel everyone is missing.. I am writing a film that deals with this possibility the more I read the less I feel my movie is Hollywood and is becoming more a documentary.
March 29th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Hi Jed,
I’d guess the moon is not the primary factor with earthquakes, but contributes to them. When the Chile earthquake happened during the full moon I checked and saw the moon was at perigee. A strange coincidence that does not prove anything, but is still curious. For sure I’ll check the skies when a future major earthquake occurs.
Dave
July 5th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Well we all have our own ideas and here is mine.
4billion years ago the moon was orbiting earth at a colosal rate and was so close the magnetic fields on both the moon and the earth were reacting against each other, pushing the moon away and it is to this day moving at about 4cm per year. As it got further away the pull on the earth from the moon became stronger and as the moon rotated around te earth it pulled so violently it caused masive eruptions and earthquaks but in different parts of the earth, getting to present day, as the moon aligns over a weak part of the earth it pulls many of the latest earthquake’s and volcano eruptions were predicted to within days and this includes the christmas hiti sunami, there is a man and wife team who have pridicted volcano eruptions all over the world in the last 25 years and NEVER been wrong. As the moon moves away things are going to get much much worse, our only saving grace is it wont be in our life time but it IS GOING TO HAPPEN.
July 10th, 2010 at 4:20 am
Hi Paul,
You could have a point. I am not certain about the details. But I will keep watching!
Dave