Big Earthquakes Double in 2014, But They're Not Linked

Earthquakes larger than magnitude-7 since 2000. Credit: USGS View full size image

If you think there have been more earthquakes than usual this year, you're right. A new study finds there were more than twice as many big earthquakes in the first quarter of 2014 as compared with the average since 1979.

"We have recently experienced a period that has had one of the highest rates of great earthquakes ever recorded," said lead study author Tom Parsons, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, California.       Read more:

http://www.livescience.com/46576-more-earthquakes-still-random-process.html

By Becky Oskin, Senior Writer   |   June 27, 2014 03:54pm ET