Can earthquakes trigger volcano eruptions? Here's the science.

Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, an associate professor of seismology and volcanology at Western Washington University, says that the paper “actually highlights how unlikely it is that a quake could trigger an eruption.”

How, then, could this long-term trend be explained? What may happen during those months is that ruptures caused by quakes open up new pathways for viscous magma to follow, gradually, to the surface. The shaking, over time, could also create additional bubbles in the magma, which increases its pressure–a bit like shaking up a can of soda.