Threat of major earthquake over 8.0 magnitude looms over Himalayan arc.

threat of major earthquake over 8 0 magnitude looms over himalayan arc

Last updated on May 11th, 2021 at 03:01 pm

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Threat of major earthquake over 8.0 magnitude looms over Himalayan arc. 

 
major earthquake
 

Threat of major earthquake over 8.0 magnitude looms over Himalayan arc. 

Following the gentle tremor in northern India on Friday, it has emerged that the entire Himalayan arc is poised to produce a sequence of great earthquakes over 8.0 magnitude.
 
NEW DELHI FEB 14 : 
 

Following the gentle tremor in northern India on Friday, it has emerged that the entire Himalayan arc is poised to produce a sequence of great earthquakes over 8.0 magnitude. 
 
Human catastrophe in the region is likely to be unprecedented when these occur.
 
Reviews by Steven G Wesnousky, professor of geology & seismology at the University of Nevada at Reno, US, & Roger Bilham, geological scientist at Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (Cires) at University of Colorado, suggest that a big earthquake is needed to release the elastic energy in large sections of the Himalayan arc.
 

Bilham published a review of earthquakes in the Himalayas in the last 1,000 years, for The Geological Society in London. It shows that there haven’t been enough big earthquakes in this period to ease the accumulated strain in large sections of the arc.
 
It is estimated that due to the average rate of convergence between the Indian & Asian plates, every year adds additional strain on the Main Himalayan Thrust that needs an Mw = 7.3 earthquake for release (moment magnitude or Mw is a quantitative measure of an earthquake’s magnitude by size).
 
There have been strong earthquakes in western & central Himalayas in 100 years. 
 
But the quakes in Kangra (1905, Mw7.8), Uttarkashi (1991, Mw6.8), Chamoli (1999, Mw6.8,) & Kashmir EQ (2005, Mw7.6) were actually moderate to major earthquakes. 
 
This means something more severe in nature might be in store.

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