The effects of a global earthquake

[Bubblegum Knight]

Would it be possible for a worldwide earthquake to occur? And if so, what would be short-term and long-term effects on the earth?

[waldronate]

All earthquakes are worldwide. That's the principle behind seismometers. It's just that shaking is undetectable by people outside of an area proportional to magnitude of the shaking.

An earthquake at one point on a fault can (in theory, at least) trigger an earthquake farther down the same fault or on a nearby fault (some earthquakes slip along a fair distance along their fault, but those faults are fairly uncommon). It's hard to get conditions just right to have lots of faults let go at once or closely enough in time to give the appearance of a single earthquake.

If you're a fan of the expanding earth hypothesis, then worldwide earthquakes should be a definite thing.

What would be the impact of a worldwide earthquake? The same as a local quake, but over a larger area. As far as long-term effects, there wouldn't really be any that I can think of. An earthquake may cause surface disruption, including raising or lower blocks of the surface. Tsunamis would be fairly large, but nothing long-term.

[johnvanvliet]

if you are thinking of the TV movies 10.0 and 11.0

NO

fault lines are too short

about the max might be a 9.6 ??? maybe
even the 1960 Chilean 9.5 did not do much damage beyond the local area

about the only world wide damage would be from the Tsunami it causes