Climate Change Leads to Earthquakes: Scientists

Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, Iceland (NASA)

Some scientists now believe that the released weight of millions of tonnes of melting ice may trigger geologic catastrophes such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

A conference in London last September outlined the threat: As humanity continues to produce global warming pollution, the rapidly heating atmosphere melts glaciers and ice fields, creating large displacements of weight as the solid ice masses melt and flow away into lakes and oceans.

The result: changing stress points on the Earth's crust, which may affect lava and volcanic activity in very unpredictable ways.