We all are aware of the two earthquakes with magnitudes 7.8 and 7.5 that devastated southern Turkey and western Syria on February 6, 2023. With the death toll exceeding 35,000, this earthquake is now one of the greatest disasters in the 21st century.
Classified as “major” on the official magnitude scale, the earthquake broke along about 100km (62 miles) of the fault line. Leading to strong and violent shaking it caused serious damage to buildings near the fault.
The Reason Behind these devastating Turkey-Syria Earthquakes
Seismologists explained that this area of Turkey lies at the intersection of three of the tectonic plates: the Anatolian, Arabian, and African plates. The tectonic plates divide the Earth’s crust into distinct “plates” that are always slowly moving. Earthquakes are concentrated along these plate boundaries.
The movement of these plates builds up pressure on fault zones at their boundaries. A sudden release of this pressure results in earthquakes. Turkey-Syria Earthquakes probably occurred on one of the major faults that mark the boundaries between the Anatolian and Arabian plates.
Now, a detailed video in Wall Street Journal thoroughly explained the complex science behind the shifts in tectonic plates.
