Landslides can trigger earthquakes according to study
Published: Monday, Apr 8th 2024, 16:00
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Landslides can trigger earthquakes. The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) announced on Monday that this new finding is of great importance for the risk management of earthquakes, particularly in mountainous regions.
It was already known that earthquakes can trigger a series of natural hazards. In a study published in the journal "Nature Communications", an international research team involving the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research has now shown for the first time that the sequence of these events can also occur in reverse.
This can happen if a river is blocked due to a landslide, explained the WSL. As a result, the water is dammed up to form a lake. The weight of the water changes the stresses and water pressure in the earth, which in turn changes the pressure on faults in the earth in such a way that earthquakes can occur.
The researchers demonstrated this phenomenon using a specific example near the village of Baige on the Tibetan Plateau. Following a major landslide there in 2018, a river was blocked, resulting in the formation of a dammed lake, which in turn triggered a series of earthquakes.
"Probability small"
"The probability of such a chain of events is small," co-author Fabian Walter is quoted as saying in the WSL press release. He continues: "However, there have also been repeated catastrophic landslides in Switzerland. If there are increasing signs of such an event, then the danger posed by a potentially dammed river should be clarified."
In addition, the volume of glacial lakes is likely to increase with climate change, which could also change the risk of earthquakes. According to the researcher, future risk assessments must take into account the mutual interactions between landslides and earthquakes.
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