An international team of scientists has uncovered the mystery deep beneath the area where the earthquake disaster occurred earlier this year in Turkey – Syria: The complex movement of three tectonic plates.
According to Live Science, the cause of the mega earthquake is the East Anatolian Fault, which can be simply understood as a place where the Earth’s crust has split apart. This fault line has been known previously, but it still holds many mysteries.
New research has revealed that this giant crack only formed about 5 million years ago, when the planet’s crust split along a line from the North Anatolian Fault to the Dead Sea Fault, separating the Eurasian and Anatolian tectonic plates. This also marked the birth of a new tectonic plate.
The red line indicates where the East Anatolian Fault formed 5 million years ago – (Photo: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA).
Tectonic plates are the pieces of the Earth’s crust. Estimates suggest that there are about 20 such plates across the planet. They carry the continents and oceans, constantly moving and causing the Earth’s land to repeatedly come together into supercontinents and then separate as it is today.
This is a natural and inevitable process of the planet, causing much destruction but also playing a crucial role in stabilizing the environment and climate, balancing chemistry, and nurturing life.
However, currently, the East Anatolian Fault may harbor many disasters. The team led by Earth scientist Donna Whitney from the University of Minnesota (USA) indicates that during the movement, the Arabian plate is becoming trapped under the Anatolian plate.
The edge of this trapped crust is believed to be the main driver causing the planetary crust in that area to experience strong pressure, leading to earthquakes. The area where the two tectonic plates are stuck is very close to the fault line where the disaster originated.
The results were obtained through the analysis of rocks, which originated from the mantle below and were brought to the surface millions of years ago due to movement, compression, and disturbance of crustal materials.
Unfortunately, the current data has not enabled scientists to predict the mega earthquake that occurred right in the midst of the research.
However, gaining a better understanding of these factors adds pieces to the puzzle for scientists to analyze and explore, thereby integrating with other factors to gradually improve earthquake forecasting models.
The study published in the journal Geology also warns that with its “young” age of 5 million years and the precarious position of the tectonic plates below, the East Anatolian Fault will continue to cause earthquakes, primarily moderate and small ones.
