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North Korean nuclear test sets off years of earthquakes

225 points · 181 comments · rbanffy

  1. BigTTYGothGF · · focus · HN ↗
    There's a lot of people in this thread who see "North Korea" and "nuclear test" and get fired up but would otherwise shrug if it were instead, say, "Oklahoma" and "fracking".

    The supplemental information is available and says: > Our earthquake catalog consists primarily of small events with magnitudes of < 2.0 and there were 1399 of them.

    The cited Ren&al says: > The magnitudes of these seismic events primarily range from 1.5 to 2.5 and that there were 647 of them.

    USGS (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usgs.gov&#x2F;media&#x2F;images&#x2F;earthquake-and-energy-comparisons-updated-2025" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usgs.gov&#x2F;media&#x2F;images&#x2F;earthquake-and-energy-comp...) says that a magnitude 2.0 earthquake is the equivalent energy of 56kg of explosives, which is more than I&#x27;d want to be around but I think for people who actually use the stuff it&#x27;s not a lot.

    1. loeg · · focus · HN ↗
      It&#x27;s simple, really. Fracking has offsetting pro-social benefits in a way that NK possessing nuclear weapons does not.
      1. antonvs · · focus · HN ↗
        “Pro-social” is a strange way to describe something that’s actively contributing to the death of our civilization.
        1. ch4s3 · · focus · HN ↗
          Looked at another way, shale natural gas has largely displaced coal which emits more CO2 and can be burned in the same power plants. This base load allows for more wind and solar. Natural gas is a great bridge fuel.
          1. loeg · · focus · HN ↗
            &gt; and can be burned in the same power plants

            I don&#x27;t believe nat gas is burned in the same plants as coal.

            1. horsawlarway · · focus · HN ↗
              Most &quot;closed coal plants&quot; in the US are really plants that retrofitted to use nat gas.

              here&#x27;s a decent recap (now a couple years out of date)

              <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eia.gov&#x2F;todayinenergy&#x2F;detail.php?id=44636" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eia.gov&#x2F;todayinenergy&#x2F;detail.php?id=44636

              1. loeg · · focus · HN ↗
                Ah, cool.
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