EQ Question of the day: Do earthquakes crush earthworms and delicate inverts?

Pinecone

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I looked on the net and can not find the answer. It seems like almost all knowledge of the world resides in someone on this board.

So here is my question of the day: Do earthworms get crushed in the soil movement generated by earthquakes? I've never been in a major quake and didn't feel the one small one that I know was felt by neighbors long ago. Would smaller inverts also get crushed? This affects soil health, for better or worse. Since the PNW, CA and the New Madrid are due for "The Big One," I was wondering if anyone else had thoughts on this, or am I the only one with obviously too much time on my hands. :D
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
Interesting question. I would guess not, but I'd like to hear if anyone knows for sure.

I would think those massive floods would do more damage to earthworms and others. Look what ends up on the sidewalks after a big rain! And maybe the weight of all that flood water could compact soil, at least where it wasn't able to soak in and saturate it.
 

Pinecone

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I've seen earthworms caught in puddles. Not a pretty sight. I can't imagine what a flood would do to the soil invertebrates.

Since the earth heaves and rolls and cracks I just wondered what effect it had on earthworms. I wonder what it does to mice and snakes and such who also live in holes underground. I guess location, location, location is important!
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
I think even small animals run away, or try to, when they sense an earthquake coming. Plus I doubt all these critters burrow deep enough to experience a lot of damage during a quake. I'd think any "kill zones" would be small and spotty at best.

I'd still like to hear about this from anyone who really knows the answer!
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
I looked on the net and can not find the answer. It seems like almost all knowledge of the world resides in someone on this board.

So here is my question of the day: Do earthworms get crushed in the soil movement generated by earthquakes? I've never been in a major quake and didn't feel the one small one that I know was felt by neighbors long ago. Would smaller inverts also get crushed? This affects soil health, for better or worse. Since the PNW, CA and the New Madrid are due for "The Big One," I was wondering if anyone else had thoughts on this, or am I the only one with obviously too much time on my hands. :D

Interesting read at this blog, I'm not going to copy and paste the entire article here right now as it looks to be a lot of work... due to embedded junk.

http://zinquisition.blogspot.com/2007/10/earthworms-used-to-predict-earthquakes.html

Earthworms used to predict earthquakes

This is a great article that really illustrates why we need to ask more questions before jumping to conclusions when presented with new & novel things happening in our vineyards:

"...Wu, who bought the vineyard 40 years ago, said he has never seen so many earthworms in his vineyard before and estimated there were 200 to 300 kilograms of them. Seeing the large numbers of earthworms Wu feared that a major quake might be coming because worms and snakes are known to come to the surface when disturbed by seismic activity.

Wu consulted a farm expert who said the earthworms crawled out because his vineyards were flooded when Typhoon Krosa hit Taiwan on October 5. Although earthworms like humid environment, they cannot stand extreme moisture or when the underground water level rises too high, so they came out of the earth, the expert told Wu.

Wu's worry about an upcoming strong earthquake eased when it was pointed out that another vineyard near Hu's house has not been invaded by earthworms because it was not flooded during the typhoon's passage."
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
http://gardening.mwcog.org/2011/08/can-earthworms-predict-earthquakes.html

Can earthworms predict earthquakes?

Since "green gardeners", with healthy, nutritious soil, often have more earthworms, I wanted to post a question. Have you seen more earthworms than usual crawling around lately?

Earthquakes emerging to the surface are supposed to be a tell-tale sign that an earthquake (or a flood) might be on the way. At least, that's what some people think.

Dr. Ikeya at Osaka University has been studying earthworms and earthquakes. Ikeya’s laboratory experiments were conducted to see if exposure to an electrical field or electromagnetic pulses could elicit animal behavior similar to what has been reported prior to earthquakes. The results: fish showed panic reactions, and earthworms moved out of the soil and swarmed when current was applied.

When asked why he decided to study the relationship between earthworms and earthquakes, Ikeya said:

The Kobe earthquake in 1995. I live 30 km from the epicenter and thought it strange that many earthworms dug themselves up in my small garden. At the time, I did not know the legend that a number of emerging earthworms is a sign of a large earthquake. Many people noticed this, including my neighbors.

What about your pets or other critters? There are many theories that animals are more in tune with Mother Nature than humans. It's just something interesting to think about.

Here are some excerpts from an article on a U.S. Department of the Interior Website:

Rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly left their homes and headed for safety several days befor a destructive earthquake. Anectdotal evidence abounds of animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behavior anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake. However, consistent and reliable behavior prior to seismic events, and a mechanism explaining how it could work, still eludes us. Most, but not all, scientists pursuing this mystery are in China or Japan.

We can easily explain the cause of unusual animal behavior seconds before humans feel an earthquake. Very few humans notice the smaller P wave that travels the fastest from the earthquake source and arrives before the larger S wave. But many animals with more keen senses are able to feel the P wave seconds before the S wave arrives. As for sensing an impending earthquake days or weeks before it occurs, that's a different story.

A recent popular theory purports that there is a correlation between Lost Pet ads in the San Jose Mercury News and the dates of earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay area. A thorough statistical analysis of this theory, published in California Geology in 1988, concludes that there is no such correlation, however.
 

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
I wonder what theories the worms have come up with to explain the occasional shaking of their world.
Dunno... could they tell the difference between a quake or the tremors caused by a shovel or rototiller? They *are* very sensitive... tapping on the soil (I barely remember from my adolescent fishing days) will bring them to the surface.

Summerthyme
 
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