Earth's crust is rearranged without anyone knowing: Scary warning

The new discovery of a looping effect between earthquakes and the movement of pieces of the Earth's crust raises concerns about unpredictable catastrophes and presents an opportunity to improve earthquake prediction models.

New research from the Department of Geology, Faculty of Geosciences and Resource Management, University of Copenhagen (Denmark) reveals something frightening: current earthquake prediction models based on plate tectonics can may not be accurate, leading to many disasters that can suddenly strike without being predicted.

Picture 1 of Earth's crust is rearranged without anyone knowing: Scary warning
Earth's complex mantle drives plate tectonics, which is the constant movement of pieces of the Earth's crust

According to SciTech Daily, it was previously believed that it was the movement of tectonic plates - pieces of Earth's crust - that created energy that accumulated at the junction of plates, which was sometimes released into earthquakes. soil.

That's true, but new research shows it's not a one-way effect. Using extensive GPS data and analysis of the famous 1999 Izmit earthquake, the researchers found that the Anatolinan continental plates (which Turkey) rests on have changed direction unexpectedly.

This change affected the later unanticipated earthquakes in the area.

Thus, the movement of the Earth's crust causes earthquakes, then earthquakes act in reverse, causing the motion of the plates to change. When the "jigsaw puzzle" is messed up, it spawns a new earthquake pattern that's different from the old one and can distort previous predictions.

This could have happened in many other parts of the world: other pieces of the Earth's crust were also diverted, the overall picture of plate tectonics was rearranged without anyone knowing, leading to many models Disaster warnings become inaccurate.

According to lead author Juan Martin De Blas, this may not necessarily be bad news. This loop-style 2-way variable can help scientists improve earthquake prediction models more efficiently and accurately, updating and changing it accordingly after each earthquake occurs. big land.

The study has just been published in the Geophysical Journal International.