Because of the violent earthquakes the ground of Turkey seems to have slipped between “five and six meters compared to Syria”

Massive earthquakes that struck Turkey on Monday have shifted the tectonic plate on which it sits by up to three meters (10 feet), experts say.

The country It is found on major fault lines bordering the Anatolian Plate, Arabian Plate, and Eurasian Plate and is therefore prone to seismic activity.

Geologists revealed that a 140-mile (225 km) stretch of the fault between the Anatolian Plate and the Arabian Plate has ruptured.

Italian seismologist Dr. Carlo Doglioni told the Italy 24 news site that Turkey has slipped “five to six meters compared to Syria” as a result.

However, he added that this was all based on initial data and that more accurate information from the satellites will be available in the coming days.

Dr Bob Holdsworth, professor of structural geology at Durham University, said the plate shift was “perfectly reasonable” given the magnitude of the quake.

‘There is a fairly predictable and widely documented relationship between the magnitude of an earthquake and the typical offset that occurs, he told MailOnline.

‘As a general rule of thumb, a magnitude 6.5 to 6.9 event is associated with a displacement of around one meter, while the largest known earthquakes may involve displacements of 10 to 15 meters.

‘The faults that slipped into Turkey yesterday are slip faults that mainly involve horizontal displacements, so the general trade-offs in the region of 3 to 6 meters proposed here are perfectly reasonable.

Normally, the blocks on the eastern Anatolian plate are shifting at the rate of 15 mm per year. The earthquakes of this February have reached 5 meters of displacement, which means that in one day they have advanced what in 200 or 300 years without an earthquake.

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‘Horizontal offsets of this type can lead to the rupture of important underground and surface infrastructure, including water pipes, power cables, gas pipelines and tunnels.

‘Shallow ruptures can also develop where faults break through to the surface, these can offset roads, rivers and other features, including built structures.

‘This is all in addition to the damage caused by shaking, liquefaction of soft sediments in valleys/basins and landslides.’

Catastrophic earthquakes occur when two tectonic plates sliding in opposite directions stick together and then slide suddenly.

They are made up of the Earth’s crust and the upper part of the mantle, while below is the asthenosphere: the conveyor belt of warm, viscous rock on which tectonic plates move.

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They don’t all move in the same direction and often collide, creating a great deal of pressure between the two plates.

Eventually, this pressure causes a plate to shake below or above the other.

This releases a large amount of energy, creating tremors and destruction of any nearby property or infrastructure.

Severe earthquakes normally occur on fault lines where tectonic plates meet, but minor tremors, which still register on the Richter scale, can occur in the middle of these plates.

Turkey is near the intersection of three tectonic plates.which means that it is prone to earthquakes.

Most of the country is located on the Anatolian plate, located in turn between two large platforms, the Eurasian and the African, and a third smaller plate, the Arabian.

The most devastating earthquakes in Turkey

• In 1894, a magnitude 7 earthquake struck Istanbul, killing at least 1,349 people.
• In 1939 some 32,700 people died in Erzincan after a 7.8 earthquake.
• In 1944, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Gerede, killing 3,959 people.
• In 1966, a 6.8 earthquake struck the city of Varto, killing 2,529.
• In 1975, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the city of Lice, killing 2,350 people.
• In 1976, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Van province, killing 5,291 people.
• In 1999, a 7.6 earthquake struck Izmit, south of Istanbul, killing 17,118 people.
• February 6, 2023, two earthquakes, 7, 8 and 7.5 of magnitude. At the moment there are more than 7,800 deaths and it is believed that the number could increase. (YO)