--- title: Large Earthquakes More Likely During a Full or New Moon description: Large earthquakes are more likely to occur when there is a full or new moon because of the gravitational pull on tides canonical: https://time.com/4489824/full-moon-earthquakes/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-13T17:40:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:09:50.907Z article:section: Science og:title: Scientists Discover Connection Between Full Moon and Earthquakes og:description: Tides can cause changes that may trigger earthquakes og:url: https://time.com/4489824/full-moon-earthquakes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9473d06b55c73bde/6988a5d1e20a87458fa92608/ap_100304016262.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: APTOPIX Chile Earthquake og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists Discover Connection Between Full Moon and Earthquakes twitter:description: Tides can cause changes that may trigger earthquakes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9473d06b55c73bde/6988a5d1e20a87458fa92608/ap_100304016262.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Discover Connection Between Full Moon and Earthquakes by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Sep 13, 2016 5:40 PM UTC  Earthquake debris sits on the shore of the Maule river in Constitucion, Chile, Friday, March 5 , 2010\. An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile on Feb. 27, causing widespread damage. (AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo) Earthquake debris sits on the shore of the Maule river in Constitucion, Chile, Friday, March 5 , 2010\. An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile on Feb. 27, causing widespread damage. (AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo)Luis Hidalgo—ASSOCIATED PRESS by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Sep 13, 2016 5:40 PM UTC Large [earthquakes](http://time.com/tag/earthquake/) are more likely to occur when there is a [full or new moon](http://time.com/4372889/watch-live-full-moon-summer-solstice/) because of the gravitational pull on tides, [a new study](http://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2796.epdf?referrer%5Faccess%5Ftoken=O5we%5FIdHxIalQWRVWJWf5dRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0M2lrmTtwM261Rl7%5Fk38VyDnwOU1jDdZIjc36R%5F8BQ-9TUMcI17ui69EJggNNwbb-pZhI-LtHiTlIKANSWMB89aEwP3UB3PpK%5FDfZPyhp-5HGYabCgHmYN382-ml36AirldZEUGxqpq-8A3Tl-UlHbJzWHYbHizIp0R2OiscFVIxw%3D%3D&tracking%5Freferrer=www.bbc.co.uk) suggests. Researchers led by Satoshi Ide, Suguru Yabe and Yoshiyuki Tanaka, all from the University of Tokyo, found that tides—which arise from the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the Moon—can cause changes that may trigger earthquakes. Particularly large earthquakes, including the 2004 Magnitude 9.1–9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake, the Magnitude 8.8 Maule earthquake which hit Chile in 2010 and the 2011 Magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake in Japan, tend to occur near to a time of seizable tidal stress, which is often triggered by full or new moons. When there is maximum tidal stress, the “probability of a tiny rock failure expanding to a gigantic rupture increases,” the study states. There was no clear correlation found between tidal stress and small earthquakes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4489824/full-moon-earthquakes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4489824/full-moon-earthquakes/"},"headline":"Scientists Discover Connection Between Full Moon and Earthquakes","datePublished":"2016-09-13T17:40:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:09:50.907Z","description":"The study was led by three researchers from the University of Tokyo","url":"https://time.com/4489824/full-moon-earthquakes/","keywords":["earthquakes","Tokyo"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9473d06b55c73bde/6988a5d1e20a87458fa92608/ap_100304016262.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9473d06b55c73bde/6988a5d1e20a87458fa92608/ap_100304016262.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"APTOPIX Chile Earthquake","caption":"APTOPIX Chile Earthquake","creditText":"Luis Hidalgo—ASSOCIATED PRESS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/earthquakes/","name":"earthquakes"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4489824/full-moon-earthquakes/","name":"Scientists Discover Connection Between Full Moon and Earthquakes"}}]}] ```