Mediterranean Trembles: Spain CSIC Sets Sails to Ocean Earthquake Epicenter
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| Image: 6.2-magnitude Earthquake hitS Italy on 24 August 2016. Photograph by the IFRC |
Scientists of the Spanish National Research Council -CSIC set sails to the Mediterranean Sea to unravel the mystery of increased earthquake activity. Recent Earthquakes hit Spain causing concern and Italy -leaving hundreds dead and thousands affected.
Seismic activity in the region comprises a risk to millions of people in Europe -Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece and Mediterranean Islands as well as millions in Africa -Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
On September 14 National Press of Spain reported that scientists of the CSIC on board the Oceanographic Vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa had set course and destination to the active fault of Al-Idrissi in the Sea of Alboran -Western Mediterranean Ocean. Spain registered over 2 thousand earthquakes originating from the Fault.
On January 25 this year Spain was hit by a 6.4 Earthquake which despite leaving no major damages affected several areas of the south of Spain. The earthquake was originated in the Fault of Al-Idrissi. Official reports assure that there have been over 2 thousand Earthquakes registered in the past year in this oceanographic region. Scientists add that activity is not normal and is on the rise.
Scientist of CSIC assured to be out to find answers to the concerning issue. The CSIC Team will install special equipment and monitor the active fault of Al-Idrissi. The goal of the mission is to obtain more information about the region's activity -especially under the scenario of recent earthquakes. Scientists of Spain warned that the earthquake which hit Spain from the Fault of Al-Idrissi was of a superior magnitude as the one which caused massive devastation in Italy this year.
On September 19 Italian Press reported that another 4.1 Earthquake hit the center of the Country. Instantly residents and the international community were remembered of the devastating recent Earthquake which hit Italy on August 24 this year leaving 297 people dead, 365 wounded and entire towns completely destroyed. The epicenter of the Earthquake is linked to the geological history of the basin of the Mediterranean.
Today 162 kilometers off the coast of Malaga the group of CISC researchers are working to deploy a network of 10 seismometers which will be installed in the oceanic floor. Instruments will gather data of the fault for the next three months.
Scientists want to understand the possible changes which the marine environment is manifesting as well as compose a detailed map of the fault to compare it with previous maps of the fault. Scientists will also determine just how much the recent earthquake activity has changed the fault.
“The study of this fault is of vital importance, we cannot rule out a larger breach in the future,” Scientists on the CSIC scientific Mission assured.
CSIC already signaled to possible changes in the fault due to recent activity. “The earthquakes and their replicas could have already torn apart segments of adjacent faults,” they said.
Spain and Italy are not the only affected by recent earthquakes in the Mediterranean region. Morocco's has witnessed massive earthquakes in 1994 and 2004 -the latest caused 629 victims and left over 15 thousand people homeless.
Scientists of the CSIC warned that today earthquakes in the region are monitored from seismic stations located on land. They assure that the location of the stations is not optimal because the activity under focus is originating in the sea.
“It is necessary to deploy ocean seismometers in the ocean floor to be able to track the evolution of seismic activity and to identify with precision which segments of the fault or faults are affecting during the tectonic movements,” César R. Ranero CSIC Lead researcher said.
Researchers of Spain are working with the Team of the Barcelona Center of Subsurface Imaging B-CSI and collaborators from the IFM-GEOMAR German Science Organization and researchers from the Moroccan University Mohamed.
The network of 10 seismometers which the team will deploy will provide critical information about the superficial structure of the fault and other key geological information.
Despite Europeans and especially Italians have been living side by potential natural disasters -even constructing entire cities on the slopes of active volcanoes recent earthquake activity has been categorized as alarming. The New York Times asked the question; “Why was the recent Earthquake so Devastating for Italy?” Despite not having the force of the earthquake which hit Nepal in 2015 -leaving 8 thousand people dead, it devastated entire towns which had stood for ages.
The earthquake hit Italy in the Central Apennines -one of the most seismically active areas of the country. The geology of the region is linked to the same periods in which the Mediterranean Basin underwent dramatic changes -from the Miocene to the Pliocene. The dramatic changes were caused by subduction process of plates in the region.
The Italian Peninsula also known as the Apennine Peninsula or “the Boot“ is the central and the smallest of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe. It is located East of the Iberian Peninsula where Spain scientists study earthquake activity. These peninsulas go deep into the Mediterranean Sea as they descend South.
Adolfo Maestro González of Spain CSIC explains that Eurasian plate and the plate of Africa are bounded by mountain chains that spread from Europe to Africa. The system is known as the Tectonic Arc of Gibraltar.
The basin of Alboran is complex because it is home of several active tectonic phases. They have been developing in the region since the Miocene to today. Recent increased activity has been registered along 400 kilometers of the Fault. This indicates that the Mediterranean Sea is changing again -although it has never stopped changing...
To understand the Mediterranean Sea is to understand complex, dynamic and dramatic changes that happened throughout the geological history of our Planet. The Mediterranean sea underwent flooding, canal breaches, complete loss of water volume (salinity crisis) and new flooding of waters from the Atlantic which shaped the sea to today´s forms. It is believed that it took 2 years of flooding waters from the Atlantic to fill the volume of the Mediterranean as it is today. 2 years when measured under the perspective of geological processes account for seconds -fast geological process can take up to thousands of years while long geological processes take millions. To flood an entire ocean in 2 years is simply “dramatic”. Massive Earthquake and tectonic activity caused these dramatic changes. They “opened wide canals” and the waters of the Atlantic flowed at incredible rates. This is the character and main essence of the Mediterranean Sea. It is dramatic and ever-changing.
If the Mediterranea Sea is constantly changing then the Faults are the agents of this change. Scientists are well aware of the history of the Mediterranean and well aware of recent increased earthquake activities. They consider the study of this issue a matter of urgency and vital importance.
The Mediterranean Ocean is in fact a strange ocean...not only because of its incredible formation, origin and evolution. Recent studies revealed that the oldest ocean crust is found in the Mediterranean.
New Scientist reported on August this year on the new study which assures that the oldest patch of undisturbed oceanic crust on Earth is found deep beneath the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The crust is estimated 340 million years old. “It beats the previous record by more than 100 million years,” media reported.
Why is this unusual? The floor of the ocean or ocean crust is constantly evolving as well. It is moving, being destroyed and regenerated and convoyed in complex processes. Usually crust lasts no more than 200 million years under ocean because of this crust cycle. On land Earth Crust can last billions of years but not under water.
Researcher Roi Granot of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel -author of the paper published in Nature Geoscience assures that the the finding of the crust of the Mediterranean could serve the understanding of the Continental Drift Theory, theory which explains the movement of plates and dynamics of oceans, their evolution and history as well as the history of continents in distant times.
“Understanding where they developed can help us figure out what Earth looked like as continents formed, broke apart, and shifted around the globe hundreds of millions of years ago,” New Scientist reported.
“Earth’s crust is well-studied, but there are geologically complex places where scientists don’t agree on its nature -whether it’s oceanic or continental, and its age...The Mediterranean Sea is one of them...” Roi Granot told the press.
“Here I am in the middle of the eastern Mediterranean and I see this beautiful feature that crosses the entire sea, from north to south,” Granot says. “That feature can only be created by oceanic crust.”
CSIC has been studying the active Faults of the Western Mediterranean for long years now. A group of researchers led by Eulàlia Gràcia has mapped and characterized the Al-Idrissi fault in a six year project. The charts will serve new studies when the time comes for map comparisons to understand and realize what changes have been brought about in the Fault´s elements.
CSIC scientists assure that Al-Idrissi activity is related to the registered earthquakes not only in South of Spain but also in the North of Morocco including the 1994 and 2004 earthquake which killed 600 people and left thousands affected.
Huffington Post Spain recently asked; Why are so many Earthquakes impacting the South of Spain? Neighbors of the Andalusian Peninsula felt more than 100 earthquakes in just months. Data of the National Geographic Institute registered a total of 2 thousand in the same period.
“Is this normal? Are these signs of some serious?” Huffington Post asked.
While experts reassured the media that activity was normal they recognized and linked the movements to the relationship between the Iberian Plate and the Plate of Africa. Experts added that while activity in the Fault is normal it has increased.
“The Political Time has nothing to do with the Geological Time,” the experts questioned by the Huffington Post said pressing local governments.
Director of the Seismic National Network Emilio Carreño told EFE that the activity was impacting Spain as well as Morocco. Director Carreño also recognized that despite activity is normal in the region it has increased.
While the local population of Spain expressed concern and local authorities attempted to reassure Scientists of the Spanish National Research Council -CSIC set sails to the epicenter of the debate to find some real science grounded answers and solutions.
"Four days before the January 25 Earthquake there was a 5.1 earthquake registered with the same epicenter and after that numerous replicas were detected. These observations can be interpreted as if the Earthquake could have torn apart segments of the adjacent fault and we can not rule out a greater rupture in the future, hence the importance of our study," CSIC lead scientists said hours before sailing off into deep Mediterranean ocean waters.
Seismic activity in the region comprises a risk to millions of people in Europe -Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece and Mediterranean Islands as well as millions in Africa -Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
On September 14 National Press of Spain reported that scientists of the CSIC on board the Oceanographic Vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa had set course and destination to the active fault of Al-Idrissi in the Sea of Alboran -Western Mediterranean Ocean. Spain registered over 2 thousand earthquakes originating from the Fault.
On January 25 this year Spain was hit by a 6.4 Earthquake which despite leaving no major damages affected several areas of the south of Spain. The earthquake was originated in the Fault of Al-Idrissi. Official reports assure that there have been over 2 thousand Earthquakes registered in the past year in this oceanographic region. Scientists add that activity is not normal and is on the rise.
Scientist of CSIC assured to be out to find answers to the concerning issue. The CSIC Team will install special equipment and monitor the active fault of Al-Idrissi. The goal of the mission is to obtain more information about the region's activity -especially under the scenario of recent earthquakes. Scientists of Spain warned that the earthquake which hit Spain from the Fault of Al-Idrissi was of a superior magnitude as the one which caused massive devastation in Italy this year.
On September 19 Italian Press reported that another 4.1 Earthquake hit the center of the Country. Instantly residents and the international community were remembered of the devastating recent Earthquake which hit Italy on August 24 this year leaving 297 people dead, 365 wounded and entire towns completely destroyed. The epicenter of the Earthquake is linked to the geological history of the basin of the Mediterranean.
Today 162 kilometers off the coast of Malaga the group of CISC researchers are working to deploy a network of 10 seismometers which will be installed in the oceanic floor. Instruments will gather data of the fault for the next three months.
Scientists want to understand the possible changes which the marine environment is manifesting as well as compose a detailed map of the fault to compare it with previous maps of the fault. Scientists will also determine just how much the recent earthquake activity has changed the fault.
“The study of this fault is of vital importance, we cannot rule out a larger breach in the future,” Scientists on the CSIC scientific Mission assured.
CSIC already signaled to possible changes in the fault due to recent activity. “The earthquakes and their replicas could have already torn apart segments of adjacent faults,” they said.
Spain and Italy are not the only affected by recent earthquakes in the Mediterranean region. Morocco's has witnessed massive earthquakes in 1994 and 2004 -the latest caused 629 victims and left over 15 thousand people homeless.
Scientists of the CSIC warned that today earthquakes in the region are monitored from seismic stations located on land. They assure that the location of the stations is not optimal because the activity under focus is originating in the sea.
“It is necessary to deploy ocean seismometers in the ocean floor to be able to track the evolution of seismic activity and to identify with precision which segments of the fault or faults are affecting during the tectonic movements,” César R. Ranero CSIC Lead researcher said.
Researchers of Spain are working with the Team of the Barcelona Center of Subsurface Imaging B-CSI and collaborators from the IFM-GEOMAR German Science Organization and researchers from the Moroccan University Mohamed.
The network of 10 seismometers which the team will deploy will provide critical information about the superficial structure of the fault and other key geological information.
Despite Europeans and especially Italians have been living side by potential natural disasters -even constructing entire cities on the slopes of active volcanoes recent earthquake activity has been categorized as alarming. The New York Times asked the question; “Why was the recent Earthquake so Devastating for Italy?” Despite not having the force of the earthquake which hit Nepal in 2015 -leaving 8 thousand people dead, it devastated entire towns which had stood for ages.
The earthquake hit Italy in the Central Apennines -one of the most seismically active areas of the country. The geology of the region is linked to the same periods in which the Mediterranean Basin underwent dramatic changes -from the Miocene to the Pliocene. The dramatic changes were caused by subduction process of plates in the region.
The Italian Peninsula also known as the Apennine Peninsula or “the Boot“ is the central and the smallest of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe. It is located East of the Iberian Peninsula where Spain scientists study earthquake activity. These peninsulas go deep into the Mediterranean Sea as they descend South.
Adolfo Maestro González of Spain CSIC explains that Eurasian plate and the plate of Africa are bounded by mountain chains that spread from Europe to Africa. The system is known as the Tectonic Arc of Gibraltar.
The basin of Alboran is complex because it is home of several active tectonic phases. They have been developing in the region since the Miocene to today. Recent increased activity has been registered along 400 kilometers of the Fault. This indicates that the Mediterranean Sea is changing again -although it has never stopped changing...
To understand the Mediterranean Sea is to understand complex, dynamic and dramatic changes that happened throughout the geological history of our Planet. The Mediterranean sea underwent flooding, canal breaches, complete loss of water volume (salinity crisis) and new flooding of waters from the Atlantic which shaped the sea to today´s forms. It is believed that it took 2 years of flooding waters from the Atlantic to fill the volume of the Mediterranean as it is today. 2 years when measured under the perspective of geological processes account for seconds -fast geological process can take up to thousands of years while long geological processes take millions. To flood an entire ocean in 2 years is simply “dramatic”. Massive Earthquake and tectonic activity caused these dramatic changes. They “opened wide canals” and the waters of the Atlantic flowed at incredible rates. This is the character and main essence of the Mediterranean Sea. It is dramatic and ever-changing.
If the Mediterranea Sea is constantly changing then the Faults are the agents of this change. Scientists are well aware of the history of the Mediterranean and well aware of recent increased earthquake activities. They consider the study of this issue a matter of urgency and vital importance.
The Mediterranean Ocean is in fact a strange ocean...not only because of its incredible formation, origin and evolution. Recent studies revealed that the oldest ocean crust is found in the Mediterranean.
New Scientist reported on August this year on the new study which assures that the oldest patch of undisturbed oceanic crust on Earth is found deep beneath the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The crust is estimated 340 million years old. “It beats the previous record by more than 100 million years,” media reported.
Why is this unusual? The floor of the ocean or ocean crust is constantly evolving as well. It is moving, being destroyed and regenerated and convoyed in complex processes. Usually crust lasts no more than 200 million years under ocean because of this crust cycle. On land Earth Crust can last billions of years but not under water.
Researcher Roi Granot of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel -author of the paper published in Nature Geoscience assures that the the finding of the crust of the Mediterranean could serve the understanding of the Continental Drift Theory, theory which explains the movement of plates and dynamics of oceans, their evolution and history as well as the history of continents in distant times.
“Understanding where they developed can help us figure out what Earth looked like as continents formed, broke apart, and shifted around the globe hundreds of millions of years ago,” New Scientist reported.
“Earth’s crust is well-studied, but there are geologically complex places where scientists don’t agree on its nature -whether it’s oceanic or continental, and its age...The Mediterranean Sea is one of them...” Roi Granot told the press.
“Here I am in the middle of the eastern Mediterranean and I see this beautiful feature that crosses the entire sea, from north to south,” Granot says. “That feature can only be created by oceanic crust.”
CSIC has been studying the active Faults of the Western Mediterranean for long years now. A group of researchers led by Eulàlia Gràcia has mapped and characterized the Al-Idrissi fault in a six year project. The charts will serve new studies when the time comes for map comparisons to understand and realize what changes have been brought about in the Fault´s elements.
CSIC scientists assure that Al-Idrissi activity is related to the registered earthquakes not only in South of Spain but also in the North of Morocco including the 1994 and 2004 earthquake which killed 600 people and left thousands affected.
Huffington Post Spain recently asked; Why are so many Earthquakes impacting the South of Spain? Neighbors of the Andalusian Peninsula felt more than 100 earthquakes in just months. Data of the National Geographic Institute registered a total of 2 thousand in the same period.
“Is this normal? Are these signs of some serious?” Huffington Post asked.
While experts reassured the media that activity was normal they recognized and linked the movements to the relationship between the Iberian Plate and the Plate of Africa. Experts added that while activity in the Fault is normal it has increased.
“The Political Time has nothing to do with the Geological Time,” the experts questioned by the Huffington Post said pressing local governments.
Director of the Seismic National Network Emilio Carreño told EFE that the activity was impacting Spain as well as Morocco. Director Carreño also recognized that despite activity is normal in the region it has increased.
While the local population of Spain expressed concern and local authorities attempted to reassure Scientists of the Spanish National Research Council -CSIC set sails to the epicenter of the debate to find some real science grounded answers and solutions.
"Four days before the January 25 Earthquake there was a 5.1 earthquake registered with the same epicenter and after that numerous replicas were detected. These observations can be interpreted as if the Earthquake could have torn apart segments of the adjacent fault and we can not rule out a greater rupture in the future, hence the importance of our study," CSIC lead scientists said hours before sailing off into deep Mediterranean ocean waters.
