The Hotel Chin shuai is located on August 9, 2009. In Typhoon Morakot in Chihpen, in Taitung province Taitung, in southeastern Taiwan, collapses in flood water. New research connects typhoon landings to a series of small earthquakes that follow.
(STR / AFP via Getty Images)
- Typhoon Morakot brought extensive floods and runways in 2009.
- Hundreds of people were killed.
- The landscapes moved massive amounts of rock.
A powerful typhoon that hit Taiwan more than a decade ago caused an increase in earthquakes in the years immediately following the storm, according to a new study.
Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan in 2009, causing extensive flooding, massive earthquakes and hundreds of deaths.
The study, recently published by a group of international researchers in the journal Scientific Reports, looked at a space of small magnitude, shallow earthquakes in the 2.5 years after the typhoon. Morakot brought nearly 10 feet of rain over three days and caused some of the most intense erosions ever recorded, according to a summary of the study by the University of Rennes in France, where some of the researchers work. More than 10,000 landscapes were recorded.
The shakes were clustered in areas where some of the most extensive slides occurred. The study concluded that the massive weight of the rocks that were displaced by the earthquakes changed the charge on the shallow part of the earth’s crust, which created a more favorable environment for earthquakes.
“These observations suggest that the progressive removal of punctures from earth’s by rivers from southern Taiwan acted to increase the crust stress rate until the earthquake activity was demonstrably affected,” the researchers wrote in the paper.
(MORE: The relentless Monsoon Rains Kill of South Korea at least 18)
While earthquakes often cause earthquakes, research has shown the opposite effect.
“Our study provides the first evidence of the impact of a single weathered erosion event on tectonics,” the scientists wrote.
Orelon Sidney, a weather.com meteorologist who has researched and reported on numerous earthquakes, explained that similarities to those that occurred after Morakot are known as “rebound quakes.”
“When a heavy enough load from an area / region is lifted, the earth’s crust bounces back, much like pressing a finger into a wet sponge,” Sidney said. “If you remove your finger, the sponge bounces back.”
The phenomenon was also accused of a series of shocks in the central US in the 1800s called the New Madrid Sequence, she said, although that series was not linked to a single weather event.
Sidney pointed out that this type of research is very new, and the conclusions could change as more is learned.
The study found that Taiwan sits on one of the most tectonically active mountain mountains on the planet, so it is important to study the causes and effects of quakes there.
“Earthquakes are one of the most dangerous and destructive natural hazards,” according to the summary “Better understanding of earthquakes triggered by tectonics and by external processes is crucial for a more realistic assessment of earthquake risks, especially in densely populated regions such as the west coast of Taiwan.”
The Water Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
.
