Earth self-healing after seismic

For the first time, scientists witnessed the earth reclaiming itself after an earthquake, like the body's own healing after being injured.

The results of Chinese and American scientists published in Science last week show that within two years - in terms of geological time, it is like after a blink of an eye, cracks on Earth's surface after an earthquake can be reconnected through self-healing .

The earthquake process causes the earth's surface to split into many cracks. The 2008 project team to study the magnitude 7.9 earthquake in China found signs of the earth's self-healing process , through drilling a series of deep holes along the cracks along the cracks. broken. As a result, fluids (including water and gas) are produced to heal the earth's cracks, similar to blood clotting to heal wounds.

Cracks form on the surface of the earth after an earthquake occurs.(Photo: personal.psu.edu)

The underground drilling project for scientific research after the earthquake in China is supported by the Chinese people. The project began implementation only 178 days after the earthquake took place on May 12, 2008, the disaster claimed the lives of 80,000 people.

Within 18 months, the project team monitored the permeability of the fractured soil. They found that, gradually, the permeability of the fluid is reduced in the fractured area. According to experts, openings and cracks are filled with minerals deposited by the fluid, or openings on the surface of the earth, over time it is squeezed and closed to make the Water absorbent gradually decreases.

Emily Brodsky, a member of the research team, said that the process of reducing water permeability occurs faster than the prediction group, the main reason is the rapid self-healing of the earth's surface . However, she has not given a clear explanation of how self-healing takes place.

The research team also pointed out that the impact of other major earthquakes that occur far away from the fractured area also affects, causing the cracks to widen more widely, a typical example is the earthquake in Japan. 3/2011 and earthquake of 7.8 Richter scale in Sumatra in April 2010.

"This really motivates us to go back and continue to study the dynamic dynamics of the earth ," said Chris Marone, a geophysicist at Pennsylvania State University.