INDIANAPOLIS — The number of intense earthquakes may increase in 2018, according to new research. <br /> <br />The prediction warns that as the Earth's rotation slows, the amount of earthquakes increase. <br /> <br />Researchers say the planet is currently in the fourth year of these five-year periodical slowdowns. They warn this could see a threefold increase in earthquakes next year, from 6 in 2017 to 20 in 2018. <br /> <br />"Next year we should see a significant increase in numbers of severe earthquakes," said University of Colorado researcher Dr. Roger Bilham. "So far we have only had about six severe earthquakes. We could easily have 20 a year starting in 2018." <br /> <br />Bilham, along with Rebecca Bendick from the University of Montana, studied earthquakes of magnitude 7 and higher since 1900 and found five instances of seismic increases. Most of the greater earthquakes occurred near the equator. <br /> <br />Scientists suspect this maybe because of small changes in the Earth's core, but exactly why earthquakes would respond to a slowing Earth is unknown. <br /> <br />New Zealand seismology experts at the University of Otago said they don't support the findings, and that the research shouldn't inspire panic. They called it "another example of a fortuitous correlation between earthquake occurrence and an unrelated phenomenon."
