A geophysicist is warning that a series of powerful earthquakes in the Atlantic could be part of a larger seismic puzzle, with potential implications for North America.
What happened
On October 13, two earthquakes with magnitudes 6.9 and 6.7 struck the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary between Africa and South America. Geophysicist Stefan Burns believes these earthquakes could be connected to a broader seismic trend, with stress moving through the region and creating a "knock-on effect" between the Caribbean, South American, and African plates.
Burns notes that this year has already seen significant earthquakes in Colombia, Venezuela, and Panama, and he is concerned that North America could be next. He points to California's vulnerable fault systems as a potential area of concern, following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Panama on October 9.
Burns has previously forecasted major earthquakes, including a warning in June about a possible earthquake in Colombia, which was followed by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake near San José del Palmar in August.
