On April 11th, 2012 a pair of massive earthquakes rocked the Indian Ocean. Scientists think that these may be the latest step in the formation of a new plate boundary on Earth’s surface.
The scientists published their findings in the journal Nature. The geological stresses are rending the Indo-Australian plate apart, and this probably caused the 8.6 and 8.2 magnitude quakes that broke along numerous faults and unleashed aftershocks for six days. Seismologists have suspected since the 1980s that the Indo-Australian plate might break up, but the April 11th quakes represent the most spectacular example of this process in action.
The Indo-Australian plate began its formation about 10 million years ago. As it moved northwards, the region near India smashed into the Eurasian plate, thrusting the Himalayas upwards and slowing India down. The Australian portion forged ahead, creating twisting tensions that are currently splitting the plate apart in the Indian Ocean.
The presence of these seismic stresses was inferred by modeling the stress changes shortly before the 2012 earthquakes. The model showed that pent-up stress from the 9.1 tremor in 2004, which unleashed a massive tsunami across the Indian Ocean, and another quake in 2005 probably helped trigger this event.
Large earthquakes occur when two plates collide at their boundaries, and one slides underneath the other. When large portions of plates slip horizontally along a fault line, this results in smaller quakes.
Accumulated stresses spread over the plate’s interior, resulting in a complex fault pattern. Unlike other earthquakes that shake along a single fault, this one ruptured along four faults, one of which slipped by 20 to 30 meters (66 to 99 feet).
Scientists studying the after-effects of the giant tremor discovered that earthquakes of 5.5 magnitude occurred at five times their normal rates all over the world. Aftershocks are usually restricted to the immediate vicinity of the main shock.
References:
“April 2012 intra-oceanic seismicity off Sumatra boosted by the Banda-Aceh megathrust” by Matthias Delescluse, Nicolas Chamot-Rooke, Rodolphe Cattin, Luce Fleitout, Olga Trubienko and Christophe Vigny, 26 September 2012, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/nature11520
“En échelon and orthogonal fault ruptures of the 11 April 2012 great intraplate earthquakes” by Han Yue, Thorne Lay and Keith D. Koper, 26 September 2012, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/nature11492
“The 11 April 2012 east Indian Ocean earthquake triggered large aftershocks worldwide” by Fred F. Pollitz, Ross S. Stein, Volkan Sevilgen and Roland Bürgmann, 26 September 2012, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/nature11504
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5 Comments
I have a question about possible landslide which is very possible about the Canary Islands near the west africa region opposite Morrocow, Mauritania etc. The artikle state that the one island is split in halve and the one block of earth is 4 square kilometers in diameter and a earthquake could cause this block of earth to break off and slide 4000 meters into the Atlancic ocean, resulting in a tsunami reaching the american coast of 60 meters high. Kindly advise me of the correctness of these findings. Economic can be hugely effected in New York etc and the african cost line. Cape Town down south is sheltered. Augustinus Huisamen 27 82 332 0846 [email protected] Do you know about the fault line the is between Table Mountain and inland which runs pass Roben Island through the Cape Flats. Koeberg Nuclear Power Station is on top of it. I do not know if is to plates or something else. Incase plates sink 4 meter, Cape Town and Table Mountain will be an island and millions of people washed out to sea
The submissions about earthquakes and the movement of the plates and layers of the earth in this article were very accurate, but I want to point out another issue related to the shape and map of the three countries on the first page above. At the time when the meteorites reached a height of a thousand meters covered the surface of the ocean, the image of a dinosaur created by humans went under the ocean in the islands of the Philippines, but the islands of Papua and New Guinea fell under the ocean. The ocean water did not sink much because the continent of Australia was close to Papua New Guinea, it was easier to take soil to this island than the Philippine islands to create the image of dinosaurs. Also, see the image of a topol and fat dinosaur in the Malaysian islands, which with the smallest removal of soil and movement of soil in The island of Malaysia created the image of this fat dinosaur. This is a small part of the changes in the earth’s soil, continents and seas that were made by humans tens of millions of years ago and more than tens of thousands of years. It has worked until these changes have taken place on the islands and continents, and the movement of the layers and plates of the earth on the continents has not yet caused the created images to be damaged, because it takes hundreds of millions of years for them to move. The layers of the earth kept their shape. Any intelligent viewer will understand that the islands of the Philippines, Papua and Malaysia were built in the shape of a dinosaur by humans. Archaeologists just need to dig the earth to find the tools and machines used to dig the earth, the tools of humans tens of millions of years ago
This is a late response to humans created islands millions of years ago to look
Ike dinosaurs, posted above. I also see chickens and rabbits and all kinds of things in the clouds. Maybe millions of years ago, man created clouds to look like animals and things, and we should search the skies for the ancient tools they used to do this millions of years ago.
In a galactic year, the Milky Way passes through the Solar System twice. In fact, in every semicircle that the large arms of the galaxy rotate around the core, they collide with the Sun and solar bodies once. Every time the stars and planets of the Milky Way pass through the Solar System, the very, very small stars and planets of the Milky Way will collide with the Sun. Approximately hundreds of stars and planets will collide with the Sun
The islands of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Malaysia were shaped exactly like dinosaurs by humans. 65 million years ago, humans spent tens of thousands of years moving the earth’s soil to create these islands in the shape of dinosaurs