The earthquake that killed about 3,000 people in Morocco is believed to have originated on a fault that has been dormant for millions of years, scientists have concluded based on satellite data that maps the Earth. surface, and these results were republished. “Science Press” website.
This crack in the Earth’s crust is called the “TC-N-Test” and its origin can be traced back to the assembly of the giant continent of Pangea 300 million years ago, which then split into many pieces and gradually became the African continent.
Its last activity predates the formation of North Africa’s tallest massif, the High Atlas Mountains, or at least the fault is thought to have been inactive since then, but the September 8 earthquake may call that into question.
These hopes are based on observations made last Monday by the European satellite Sentinel-1a, which is part of a series of satellites busy mapping the Earth’s surface.
To do this, these satellites send out radar signals that allow them to measure small differences in the Earth’s surface. In this case, the technique allowed Cornell University geologists Judith Hubbard and Kyle Bradley to compare data collected before the earthquake to pinpoint where the ground had moved.
But we’re talking about movement on the order of a millimeter, which is the level of precision these satellites can achieve. That is, in the absence of such satellites, we have so far missed a lot about the precise movements of tectonic plates.
Matters become more complicated when we realize that the precise movements involved do not form a continuous line, as the diagram published by Hubbard and Bradley reveals. This means that the “crack” in the ground does not reach the surface, or in geologists’ terms is called a “blind earthquake”.
