Japan's Earthquake Shortened The Day

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan was so powerful that it moved Honshu about 8 feet east, shifted Earth's axis by an estimated 4 to 10 inches, and shortened the day by about 1.8 microseconds. The magnitude 9.0-9.1 undersea megathrust struck on March 11 and lasted about six minutes. It also caused parts of Honshu's Pacific coast to sink by roughly a meter.

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