Powerful earthquakes that occurred on the morning of February 6 in Turkey and affected Syria intensified seismic processes, the consequences of which can be felt for several months and even years. Writes about it “VBC News Ukraine” February 8th.
Most of Turkey is located on the Anatolian Plate, and the southwest of Turkey goes to the Arabian Plate near Syria, and there is a deep tectonic fault between them, explained seismologist, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Dmitry Grin.
According to him, the Arabian plate presses on the Anatolian one, and this energy accumulates over hundreds of years, eventually being released by an earthquake. Since there were no earthquakes in this zone for a long time, a lot of energy accumulated, which led to powerful aftershocks.
This earthquake activated other seismic zones on the planet, where tectonic plates press against each other, the seismologist explained. After such powerful earthquakes, seismic waves go around the Earth several times, and all seismological stations on the planet, including those in Ukraine, recorded waves from the earthquake in Turkey.
The consequences could be felt in the Black Sea region and the Caucasus in the next two to three years, Grin said. According to him, the Arabian plate used to put pressure on the Anatolian plate, that is, on Turkey, and now it is starting to put pressure on the Caucasus, as well as Crimea. According to the expert, in the coming years, a series of small earthquakes with a power of 4-5 points may occur in this region, but there may also be large earthquakes.
Thanks to the Black Sea, the seismic activity of Turkish earthquakes is less felt on the territory of Ukraine, but mainland Ukraine lies in the zone of influence of earthquakes from the Vrancea zone in Romania. The largest earthquakes from the Vrancea zone were in 1977 and 1986, they were also felt by the inhabitants of Ukraine, especially in the western and central regions, recalls “BBC News Ukraine”.
On February 6, a powerful earthquake struck southeast Turkey and northwest Syria at night.
Its epicenter was in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, the magnitude was 7.7. The tremors were also felt in neighboring countries – Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Romania, Georgia and others. On the afternoon of February 6, another earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck. In total, according to the Turkish emergency agency, there were 648 tremors.
According to the latest data, 8574 people died in Turkey (this figure published Turkish Emergency Management Agency), in Syria – about 2530 people.
