Various questions regarding the emergency’pulau‘ in the Regency of the Tanimbar Islands, Moluccas, after earthquake magnitude 7.5 finally answered. Meteorology Council Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG extension) described the phenomenon as a mud volcano.
Responsible for earthquake and tsunami mitigation BMKG extension Daryono explained that the mud volcano that appeared after the earthquake would disappear by itself.
“But generally this ‘new island’ will disappear by itself,” Daryono said in his written statement on Tuesday (10/1/2023).
Daryono said the emergence of this mud volcano was a normal natural phenomenon. He explained the term mud volcano.
“Actually, this kind of natural event is an ordinary natural phenomenon known as the emergence of a mud volcano which is popularly known as ‘mud volcano,'” Daryono said.
He named the mud mountain as in Tanimbar this sometimes appears on the surface after a major earthquake. Physically, Daryono said, pressure within the earth’s crust builds when underground fluids and gases cannot escape because they are trapped in layers of sediment.
“This soft material is trapped and can therefore experience overpressure if it is pressed by tectonic forces or due to the input of strong seismic shocks such as ‘motion input,'” he said.
“The ‘new island’ mud volcano eventually formed when liquids and gases in the earth found their way to the surface through rock fractures formed by strong seismic tremors,” he explained.
Explanation of the BRIN researcher
National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Geotechnology Research Center researcher Eko Yulianto also gave an explanation on the appearance of the “new island”. Eko says that the “island” appeared after the earthquake due to a malfunction.
“The formation of new islands occurs in geological terms called faults, where the process of uplifting land subsidence occurs due to the seismic cycle mechanism,” Eko said when contacted, Antara reported on Tuesday (10/ 1/2022).
He said that the uplift and lowering of land by the seismic cycle mechanism is caused by two main phases namely the interseismic which is the initial phase of an earthquake and the cosismic phase which is the phase where an earthquake occurs. tectonic earthquake.
“As happened in the case of the 2004 Aceh tsunami earthquake, an island up to three meters high appeared,” he said.
Read more on the next page
