The official television in Morocco said that the earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, occurred in the Atlas Mountains region, and in the latest death toll, more than two thousand people were killed and nearly as many were injured.
The devastating earthquake shook the Atlas Mountains, damaging buildings in the nearby city of Marrakesh and other cities, in the strongest earthquake Morocco has witnessed in more than 6 decades.
The Atlas Mountains in Morocco are a known site of tectonic plate activity that leads to earthquakes, noting that the epicenter of the earthquake was in the Atlas Mountains, about 70 kilometers from Marrakesh.
About the mountain range
The Atlas Mountains extend about 2,300 kilometers across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. They are known as “folded mountains”, as they were formed as a result of the collision of the Eurasian tectonic plate in the north and the African tectonic plate in the south. “The Atlas Mountains lie on the border between the two plates,” said Fabrice Cotton, professor of seismology at the German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam. “So the area is known to be an earthquake zone,” Cotton added to the Deutsche Welle news site. The US Geological Survey said that the earthquake was caused by the movement of the African tectonic plate at its meeting point with the Eurasian plate.
How do earthquakes occur?
The Earth’s crust is made up of a number of huge tectonic plates, similar to a puzzle. There are some giant oceanic plates, and many smaller continental plates. The exact number of small and very young tectonic plates is still subject to scientific debate. All of these plates “swim” above the Earth’s molten core. These plates move a few millimeters every year, over billions of years. Plates may move away from each other, rub against each other, or push against each other, causing the ground directly above them to move. When these movements become relatively large, parts of them can break or separate, resulting in an earthquake that resonates to the Earth’s surface. Areas located on fault lines, where tectonic plates meet, are more vulnerable to earthquakes. According to Cotton, it is very difficult to predict earthquakes in such areas, due to the constant tectonic activity. Any earthquake measuring 5 or higher on the Richter scale can cause damage to buildings. If an earthquake occurs under the ocean, tsunami waves may occur that can cause devastating floods if they strike land. Strong earthquakes are always followed by smaller aftershocks, which occur because tectonic plates near the epicenter continue to move until they eventually stabilize again. Aftershocks can also cause severe damage, as buildings damaged during the original earthquake may collapse, causing further human and material damage. According to Cotton, the only way to protect humans from earthquakes is to build earthquake-resistant buildings.
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2023-09-10 01:38:20
