The Link between a solar eclipse and earth quakes ?

Could there be a link between a solar eclipse and earthquakes ? We all know that the Moon's gravity does effect the Earth and we can see evidence of this in the rising tide . Is it at all possible that when the moon eclipses the Sun that it may play some part in provoking an earthquake ?

I did a bit of searching and found an interesting article , found Here

When sun, moon align

Since the strongest effects were seen when the pull of the moon and the sun was aligned with the direction of the fault's break (Los Angeles toward San Francisco in the case of the San Andreas Fault), the researchers reasoned that water trapped deep underground was the likely explanation for the tremors, lubricating the rock to make it move easier.

The tremors so far have been found in only a relatively small number of fault zones, suggesting that underground water isn't found everywhere.

If the tremors have an effect on the earthquake zone closer to the surface, it's hard to find, Bürgmann said.

Looking for a link

If scientists can find a link between these almost undetectable tremors and the destructive quakes that are geologically inevitable along the huge fault zones that riddle California and other parts of the world, it could help them understand the processes taking place deep below Earth's surface.

"Clearly they are connected, since it's the same fault zone," Bürgmann said in an interview Tuesday. "But how they relate is a question that still has to be answered."

The next step is to expand the research to find other places, particularly in California, where these tremors occur, Nadeau said. There's also a need for more sensitive equipment to take a higher-resolution look at what's happening deep underground.

I realize this is very speculative but I would be interested in hearing what some of you think , could there be something to this possible link between an eclipse and an earth quake ?


[edit on 20-1-2010 by Max_TO]

Here are a couple of other interesting bits of info that I have found ...

In August 1999, an earthquake in northwestern Turkey killed some 17000 people just six days after a solar eclipse.

Significant data to correlate earthquakes in Japan to solar eclipses exist, if we look a few hours before or a few days after a solar eclipse. On March 18 1988 6 hours before the total solar eclipse a 5.4 earth quake occurred in the Setagaya ward of Japan. In 1998 an earthquake of the same magnitude 5.4 took place in the same region a few days after the August solar eclipse.
The interesting thing to note is that there does seem to be a significant correlation between Total Solar Eclipses and Earthquakes in this region over the past decade. A magnitude 6+ earthquake occurred 6 hours before the total solar eclipse in China, October 1995. A magnitude 5+ earthquake occurred 1 hour before the total solar eclipse in China, August 2008

Moon Earthquake Theory

While it's entirely possible that tidal effects influence earthquakes there is so much "noise" in the signal that it's impossible to come up with any meaningful correlation. It's one thing to say an earthquake occurred during an eclipse but it's another to ignore all the earthquakes which don't, or those which occur at other times.

Tidal influences are highest twice each month (during the full and new Moons). They are also most intense when the full and new Moons occur when the moon is at perigee (closest to Earth). Since eclipses occur during a new moon (when the Sun and the Moon are on the same side of the Earth) the tidal effects are strongest, but no stronger than during a "normal" new Moon.

Originally posted by Phage
While it's entirely possible that tidal effects influence earthquakes there is so much "noise" in the signal that it's impossible to come up with any meaningful correlation. It's one thing to say an earthquake occurred during an eclipse but it's another to ignore all the earthquakes which don't, or those which occur at other times.

How right you are . Having said that if there is a possible link then it would be an interesting point of study .