Did upcoming solar eclipse cause New Jersey earthquake? Will it trigger thunderstorms, create havoc in US?

After an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.8 on the Richter scale hit New Jersey, it is being asked whether it is related to the total solar eclipse that will take place on Monday, April 8. Was it just a coincidence that millions of people living in places from New York to Connecticut and Pennsylvania to Maine felt tremors days before the eclipse? Or has the Sun affected the surface of the planet and caused the plates of its crust to move?

USGS: Earthquake and eclipse not related

U.S. Geological Survey has outrightly rejected any relation between earthquakes and solar eclipses. In a press conference held after the quake, USGS seismologist Paul Earle said that although a quake of this magnitude is uncommon in the region, it is not unexpected. Emphasizing that eclipses do not affect earthquakes, he said, "This is unrelated to the solar eclipse. Earthquakes of this size do not correlate with celestial bodies."

The path of totality of the solar eclipse will begin in Mexico and extend across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before heading over the North Atlantic.

Conspiracy theories

Several conspiracy theories have spread online after the earthquake. It has also been speculated that the cosmic phenomenon could spark earthquakes and severe thunderstorms. However, the USGS wrote on its official website, "It has never been demonstrated that there is a causal relationship between space weather and earthquakes."

It said further,"Indeed, throughout the Sun's 11-year variable cycle, the occurrence of flares and magnetic storms waxes and wanes, but earthquakes occur without any such 11-year variability."

The USGS also said that since earthquakes are driven by processes in the Earth's interior, they would occur even if solar flares and magnetic storms were to somehow cease occurring.

FAQs:

What has the U.S. Geological Survey said about the earthquake?
U.S. Geological Survey has outrightly rejected any relation between earthquakes and solar eclipses. In a press conference held after the quake, USGS seismologist Paul Earle said that although a quake of this magnitude is uncommon in the region, it is not unexpected.

What will be the path of the totality of solar eclipse?
The path of totality of the solar eclipse will begin in Mexico and extend across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before heading over the North Atlantic.