Earthquake's early warning signals detected for the first time
Friday, February 18, 2011 - 13:31
in Earth & Climate
The 1999 Izmit earthquake in Turkey is one of the best recorded in the world. For the first time, researchers from CNRS, Kandilli Observatory (Istanbul) and the Tubitak research center observed that the earthquake was preceded by a preparatory phase that lasted 44 minutes before the rupture of the fault. This phase, which was characterized by a distinctive seismic signal, corresponds to slow slip at depth along the fault. Detecting it in other earthquakes might make it possible to predict some types of earthquakes several tens of minutes before fault rupture. These findings are published in the 18 February 2011 issue of the journal Science.