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.

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About Holly

Holly Doremus is the James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation at UC Berkeley. Doremus brings a strong background in life sciences and a comm…

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About Holly

Holly Doremus is the James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation at UC Berkeley. Doremus brings a strong background in life sciences and a comm…

READ more

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