What is the probability that a series of nuclear tests in northwestern India and northern Pakistan could trigger a major earthquake in Afghanistan?
The probability is essentially nil, according to seismologist Paul Richards of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York. There is simply not enough energy in test explosions. Even back in the 1960s and 1970s, when the nuclear tests were hundreds of times bigger than those in India and Pakistan, they only generated a few small aftershocks, within a few kilometres of the siteEd
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.