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A month ago the earthquake of magnitude 6.6 on the Richter scale took place in Japan.
In two weeks the earth has trembled four times, with greater or lesser intensity, in the American. It happened just 15 days after he made it to the other side of the Pacific, in Japan.
And although these are unrelated phenomena, they coincide in a horseshoe-shaped area with high seismic activity, the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which unites America with Asia.
On July 20, an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale occurred near the Russian-administered Kuril Islands and was felt in northeastern Japan. In less than a month, on August 12 and 17, it trembled in Ecuador, due to two earthquakes of magnitude 5.1 and 4.7.
On the 14th of this month, Chileans felt the ground move in the north of the country, with a force of 5.7. Within a week, the Tampa earthquake occurred in California, United States. And the most recent and largest telluric movement, of 6.9, took place in Peru, last Tuesday.
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In Chile trembled on August 14, due to an earthquake of magnitude 5.7.
All these countries belong to the Pacific Ring of Fire, also known as the Circumpacific Belt or Ring of Fire. An inverted crescent that results from joining Chile with New Zealand, following the coast, with an imaginary line. The famous horseshoe.
a seismic belt
«90% of all earthquakes in the world and 80% of the largest earthquakes take place in the Pacific Ring of Fire,» the director of the seismology area of the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP), Herando, explained to BBC Mundo. Taveras.
In this belt of about 40,000 kilometers in length are located, in addition to the countries mentioned, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and part of Canada, on one side of the ocean.
At the height of the Aleutian Islands, in the north of the Pacific Ocean, between Alaska and the Kamchatka peninsula, is the upper curve of the horseshoe, which later bends to include the coast and the islands of Russia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, on the other.
image source, THOUGHT
The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area of 40,000 kilometers in which 90% of the earthquakes take place.
The bed of the Pacific Ocean rests on several tectonic plates and «the fact that the seismic activity is intense in the Ring of Fire is due to the convergence of these and their friction, which causes stress to accumulate to be released,» Taveras said. .
As explained by the expert, in the case of the earthquake in Peru, the Nazca plate subducted or sank under the South American plate. «And the one in California was an event associated with the friction of the North American and Pacific plates,» he added.
unrelated tremors
Both seismic phenomena are therefore due to the displacement of tectonic plates. «It is the only thing they have in common,» remarked the Peruvian seismologist, making it clear that there is no other relationship and that one tremor did not produce the next.
Raúl Valenzuela, a researcher at the Department of Seismology of the Institute of Geophysics of the Autonomous University of Mexico (Unam), coincided with this meeting.
«The US earthquake did not later cause the one in Peru, for example. Nor did it take place as a consequence of the one in Chile,» he clarified to BBC Mundo by telephone from Mexico DF
«Limiting ourselves to those of magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9, like the last ones that have taken place, about 150 earthquakes occur in the world every year,» he explained.
«If we do the math, there are more than 12 per month. So there are days when it doesn’t tremble, but sometimes it coincides that three earthquakes occur in 48 hours,» he added. «But they’re not usually related.»
Geophysicists from the Postdam Geological Research Center, Germany, reached the same conclusion when asked if there was a relationship between the earthquakes that occurred in April in Chile, Mexico and Nicaragua. «Until now there is no data that establishes a relationship between earthquakes that occur at great distances,» they said emphatically.
image source, THOUGHT
More than 75% of the world’s active and inactive volcanoes are found in the Ring of Fire; 452 craters
More than 75% of the world’s active and inactive volcanoes were found in the Pacific Ring of Fire; 452 craters.
But their activity is not related to their reactivation or daily activity, according to Taveras.
The Mexican expert remarked this to rule out any link between the recent tremors and the fact that the Ecuadorian volcano Tungurahua is having explosions every half hour, as reported on Tuesday by the Geophysical Institute of the National Polytechnic School of Ecuador.