A powerful earthquake in Kamchatka may happen again within a few months
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- A powerful earthquake in Kamchatka may happen again within a few months
A powerful earthquake of magnitude 8.8, which occurred in Kamchatka on July 30, caused a significant, but not complete release of energy accumulated in the earth's crust. It may take months to complete the relaxation process, during which new tremors with a magnitude higher than 7 are likely, Alexey Ostapchuk, associate professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and head of the Laboratory of Deformation Processes in the Earth's crust at the IDG RAS, told Izvestia.
As the scientist explained, Kamchatka is located in a subduction zone in which the Pacific Plate is gradually sinking under the Eurasian continental plate by about 8 cm per year. Since the plates are not completely smooth, they can form locked areas, which are called tectonic hooks.
In these places, the plates do not shift relative to each other, so tectonic stress accumulates there. When it reaches its maximum values and the strength of the hooks increases, they collapse, causing the plates to slip sharply. In this case, there is an outburst of seismic energy, that is, an earthquake, the scientist explained.
"In ordinary earthquakes, one tectonic hook collapses. The Kamchatka earthquake was accompanied by the destruction of at least three tectonic hooks, which makes its source unique. The released seismic energy turned out to be significantly lower than is observed in earthquakes of this magnitude. Probably, the strength decreased due to the active seismic process that began in Kamchatka on July 20, 2025 after the 7.4 magnitude event," said Alexey Ostapchuk.
According to the scientist, a cataclysm of the same power occurred the last time in this place in 1952.
Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:
Notice the shift: earthquake in Kamchatka may happen again within a few months
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
