Historic earthquakes strike Atlantic as expert raises fears of seismic ‘chain reaction’

By CHRIS MELORE, US DEPUTY SCIENCE EDITOR

Published: 11:41 EDT, 13 October 2026 | Updated: 13:34 EDT, 13 October 2026

Two powerful earthquakes have struck in the Atlantic Ocean, prompting one expert to warn of a possible seismic ‘chain reaction’ that could affect the US.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected a magnitude 6.9 earthquake along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Africa and South America at 8.23am ET.

A magnitude 6.7 quake struck less than seven hours earlier at 1.44am, just 50 miles north along the same seafloor fault line where the bottom of the ocean is slowly splitting apart.

However, geophysicist Stefan Burns told the Daily Mail that the double earthquake was not only historic in size, but is likely part of a seismic ‘chain reaction’ taking place this year which was closing in on fault lines near the US.

Burns, who accurately predicted multiple earthquakes months in advance this year, said: ‘If there is going to be fallout close to land, it would be like something big happening in North America.’

The earthquake expert explained major seismic events had already struck the Caribbean plate in 2026, including disasters in Colombia, Venezuela and Panama.

According to Burns, Tuesday’s events revealed how the seismic stress along that plate was now affecting the South American and African plates, causing what he called a ‘knock-on effect’ – sending energy into the connecting plates, with the North American plate being next.

Scientific research has identified ways powerful earthquakes can affect faults thousands of miles away, providing a possible mechanism for the knock-on effect Burns described.

Two powerful earthquakes have struck along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on October 13, 2026

Geophysicist Stefan Burns has predicted multiple major seismic disasters in 2026 and warned that the quakes are moving closer to the US (Source: Stefan Burns / X)

A study published in the journal Nature showed that powerful earthquakes can trigger seismic activity thousands of miles away.

Scientists at UC Berkeley and the USGS found that a magnitude 8.6 earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2012 triggered earthquakes worldwide, including a magnitude 7.0 event in Baja California, with some faults failing up to six days later.

Study coauthor Roland Bürgmann suggested that seismic waves could trigger a cascade of smaller earthquakes leading to larger ruptures, describing distant triggering as very rare but ‘a real possibility if the right kind of earthquake happens.’

‘Until now, we seismologists have always said, “Don’t worry about distant earthquakes triggering local quakes,”‘ said Bürgmann, professor of earth and planetary science at Berkeley.

Burns explained that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge ‘doublet,’ a pair of large earthquakes taking place near each other at roughly the same time, was evidence of a big movement between the South American and African plates following more than a year’s worth of activity along the neighboring Caribbean plate.

Along with the recent quakes in South America, all of which were stronger than magnitude 7.0, the geophysicist noted that the seismic events affecting the Caribbean plate date back to a magnitude 7.6 earthquake which struck the Cayman Islands in February 2025.

Burns added that Tuesday’s earthquakes in the Atlantic were among the strongest to hit the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the last 50 years, with the 6.9 quake registering as the third strongest since 1976.

‘Generally, anything close to magnitude 7.0 on a mid-ocean ridge is incredible,’ he said.

Geophysicist Stefan Burns has predicted multiple major earthquakes in recent months, using seismic movement trends and the influence of solar activity as his data

Burns posted on X that he would not be surprised if the pattern of large earthquakes moving along the plates bordering the Americas resulted in another major seismic event this week.

Although USGS scientists have argued that geological events like earthquakes cannot be predicted well in advance, Burns has gone on the record repeatedly this year, warning of major earthquakes in South America weeks and even months before they took place.

The popular YouTube commentator who focuses on earthquake science first predicted that a major earthquake could strike Colombia on June 24, nearly two months before the magnitude 7.4 disaster in the city of San José del Palmar on August 10, 2026.

He said in a YouTube livestream that the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes in Venezuela that same day would be sending out waves of seismic energy that could cause another fault to rupture several weeks or months later.

The scientist also noted at the time that these massive seismic events appeared to be moving north towards Panama, Mexico and the US.

Burns told the Daily Mail that October 9’s magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Panama was ‘exactly’ what recent seismic trends had been showing, adding that the pattern continued to show movement towards a major disaster hitting vulnerable fault lines in California.

Burns also theorized that the sun plays a major role in causing earthquakes.

On October 10, he predicted that a high-speed solar impact would set off a major quake within one to three days after the doublet erupted along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.