Unnatural disasters

Scientific American‘s 60-Second Science blog is reporting, picking up on a news story from Science, that last year’s devastating earthquake in southern China may have been caused by the filling of an enormous reservoir behind a dam built in 2004.  The weight of the water in that reservoir, located just over 3 miles from the quake’s epicenter, may have increased stress on the nearby fault enough to trigger its rupture.   The Chinese government denies any connection.

60-Second Science, China, disasters, earthquakes