On October 5, 2024, Iran was struck by an earthquake.
This shows how geophysical data played an important role in a geopolitical crisis.
Months later, Fernando and his colleagues analyzed the event using publicly available data from seismic monitoring stations.
The black and purple dots point to the location of the 2024 earthquake, as well as the previous two quakes. Triangles pinpoint the seismometers the team used to study the 2024 earthquake. Iranian nuclear facilities are indicated with yellow and black dots, and red lines highlight fault zones.© Benjamin Fernando / Johns Hopkins University, with topography provided by NOAA
Seismologists study earthquakes by recording their seismic waves from different points around the planet.
They categorically ruled out any association between the event and a secret nuclear test.
Nuclear tests have very different signatures, which are explosive, Fernando added.
Nevertheless, rumors that the seismic activity was not natural quickly spread on social media.
The first suggestion that a nuclear test caused the earthquake appeared 27 minutes after the shaking.
Allegations of secretive nuclear weapons tests could potentially push the regionand the worldto the brink of war.
The challenge in identifying active disinformation lies in distinguishing strategic misinformation from simple ignorance.
The researchers ultimately provided suggestions for how the scientific community can potentially prevent such widespread misinformation in the future.
Giving amplification to contents coming from verified scientific accounts could help reduce the misleading narrative.
Ultimately, the study highlights how scientific misinformation could have dire global consequences.
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