‘Helium in groundwater may predict earthquake risk’

Groundwater helium level could signal potential risk of earthquakes, according to researchers who discovered a relationship between levels of the noble gas and the amount of stress exerted on inner rock layers of Earth. 

Scientists at the University of Tokyo in Japan hope the finding will lead to the development of a monitoring system which catches stress changes that could foreshadow a big earthquake. Several studies, including earthquakes in Kobe, Japan, in 1995, have indicated that changes to the chemical makeup of groundwater may occur prior to earthquakes.