Aftershock: Chilean quake shortened Earth days


    According to Richard Gross, the quake may have also shifted the Earth's figure axis - the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced - by some 3 inches.

    In comparison, the 2004 magnitude 9.1 Sumatran earthquake shortened the length of an Earth day by 6.8 microseconds, while shifting the planet's axis by 2.32 milliarcseconds, or 2.76 inches.



    However, Gross emphasized that the Chile predictions were likely to change as data on the quake was further "refined."