Quakes can be triggered from other side of globe: study
A major quake such as the one that left at least 60,000 dead in southwestern China this month can trigger other earthquakes half way around the world, according to a study released Sunday.
This unexpected finding could one day help make better predictions about the frequency and intensity of aftershocks, the lead researcher told AFP.
A team of geologists in the United States found that 12 out of 15 major quakes — registering a magnitude of 7.0 or higher — since 1990 generated surface waves that set off smaller seismic events in fault systems on distant continents.
The China quake, which measured 8.0 on the Richter scale, was not included in the study, which was published in the British journal Nature Geoscience.
“It was known that these surface waves could travel,” explained co-author Tom Parsons of the US Geological Survey.
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