This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Permafrost refers to permanently frozen ground. The rock is held together by ice, much like cement binds concrete.
However, when the ice thaws, the ground becomes weak and unstable. During an earthquake, this can trigger a series of natural hazards. An international research team investigated precisely such an event.
On March 10, 2025, an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the moment magnitude scale shook Jan Mayen island, triggering a rock avalanche that covered part of a glacier with rock and debris mounds known as molards, located approximately 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the epicenter. The researchers set out to understand why this particular earthquake caused such pronounced slope instability, even though the region has long been seismically active. Was there an additional factor that made the rock especially vulnerable?
And what role does ongoing climate change play? Their findings are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This 2025 earthquake is a striking example of cascading natural hazards," says lead author Dr.
S. de Melo, postdoctoral researcher in the Marine Geodynamics research unit at GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel. "Our study documents, for the first time, an earthquake-triggered rock avalanche on Jan Mayen island. The volcanic slope may have become increasingly unstable due to permafrost degradation." Jan Mayen is a small island in the northernmost part of the Atlantic Ocean and is politically part of Norway.
Apart from the crew of a weather station, it is uninhabited. It lies about 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of Greenland and 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Iceland. Like Iceland, it was formed by volcanic activity along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
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