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Powerful shock wave-creating earthquakes can move faster than predicted

earthquakes on long straight faults can rupture fa

With natural furies increasingly taking their toll on the planet, the need to better predict the most dangerous earthquake-prone faults and their consequential damages are gaining importance.

Cuing with these concerns, scientists are taking up studies on the ‘nature’ of the killer-earthquakes. Amidst this, a new study has found that earthquakes along the long and straight faults can rupture faster than previously thought! – Thanks to the more powerful computers, higher quality seismograms and new imaging techniques.

It can also trigger powerful shock waves that trigger the destructiveness of the quick-moving quakes. This finding has its significance in predicting the potential risks of a forthcoming earthquake.

Leading the study, Shamita Das, a seismologist at Oxford University wrote:

Given the potential for increased destruction, we must take such information into account when planning earthquake-resistant construction worldwide.

According to the study, earthquakes, like roads, slow down during bends or a bump. Taking the California’s San Andreas fault into consideration, it is found that many parts of it run in long, straight lines making it more vulnerable to such quick quakes.

This new finding opens up new scopes to identify faults across the world that could fuel these more powerful quakes in the future. Thus, planning earthquake-resistant constructions would be easier across the world.

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