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Published online 30 December 2004 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news041229-6
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Sumatran quake sped up Earth's rotation
Natural disaster shaved millionths of a second off planet's day.
The devastating earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean on 26 December was so powerful that it has accelerated the Earth's rotation, geophysicists have declared. They estimate that the shockwave shortened the period of our planet's rotation by some three microseconds.
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