Causes terrifying earthquakes in Turkey

The strong earthquake of 7.2 richter magnitudes that shook the Eastern Turkey on Sunday (October 23) is a rare case in this area.

>>> Video: Dilapidated scenes, panic after earthquakes in Turkey

However, based on the region's highly disrupted geological form, strong earthquakes are not too surprising, scientists said.

In fact, Turkey has often suffered from shocks and has also witnessed heavy earthquakes in history. On 11/11/1976, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake destroyed many villages near Turkey and the Iranian border, causing thousands of deaths. A little further, the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Erzincan in 1939 claimed 33,000 lives. Most recently, the 1999 Izmit earthquake killed at least 17,000 people, wounded about 50,000 people and pushed 500,000 people into the scene.

'Earthquake above 7 richter is quite rare, but not unprecedented. We are absolutely not surprised , 'said geologist Don Blakeman of the US Geological Survey Center on the AP.

In Eastern Turkey, the Arabian continent collided slowly with Eurasian continental shelves (Speed ​​less than 1 inch per year). Meanwhile in the Western and Central regions, movement is faster and more complex, in many different ways. There were states that the mountains in Western Turkey shifted from East to West, while the North-South Mountains shifted to the East.

'This is an area with extremely complex terrain,' Blakeman expert told OurAmazingPlanet.

In the area of ​​the earthquake on Sunday, strike-slip faults are the most common type of fracture. In this type of fracture, the continental shelves and earth grooves slide parallel to each other in the horizontal direction.