Professor warns of potential 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Istanbul
ISTANBUL
French geophysicist Professor Xavier Le Pichon, a researcher focusing on the Marmara fault line for the last 15 years, has warned of a potential earthquake with a 7.6-magnitude, daily Hürriyet has reported. Le Pichon said the Istanbul earthquake is approaching slowly. “We are brushing it off due to issues such as political turmoil and regional conflicts, but the earthquake will affect Istanbul, and it is approaching,” he said.
Le Pichon said he gathered the information from a data released last month by French research ship Le Suroit, which came to Turkey after the 1999 Gölcük earthquake.
“An article on the discovery of potential earthquakes was released by the Le Suroit research ship last month. The Marmara fault line, which will prompt an earthquake, is described by Turkish seismologists as a single, thoroughgoing strike-slip fault system,” he said.
Le Pichon said they observed the Northern Anatolian Fault was getting closer to the Marmara province in 1999 and it moved on a single line.
“We observed that the ratio of the movement on this fault line is 20 millimeters per year, and we added that the last crack on this fault line occurred after two major earthquakes in 1766 that occurred in Istanbul. We also noticed that we are expecting an earthquake with a 7.6-magnitude in the next 30 years,” he said.
A research carried out in 2001 with Prof. Celal Şengör and Prof. Tuncay Taymaz from Istanbul Tecnical University and a number of experts confirmed the information on the fault line. “A large number of researchers said these data were not adequate to explain, back in those days,” he said.
Le Pichon said he gathered the information from a data released last month by French research ship Le Suroit, which came to Turkey after the 1999 Gölcük earthquake.
“An article on the discovery of potential earthquakes was released by the Le Suroit research ship last month. The Marmara fault line, which will prompt an earthquake, is described by Turkish seismologists as a single, thoroughgoing strike-slip fault system,” he said.
Le Pichon said they observed the Northern Anatolian Fault was getting closer to the Marmara province in 1999 and it moved on a single line.
“We observed that the ratio of the movement on this fault line is 20 millimeters per year, and we added that the last crack on this fault line occurred after two major earthquakes in 1766 that occurred in Istanbul. We also noticed that we are expecting an earthquake with a 7.6-magnitude in the next 30 years,” he said.
A research carried out in 2001 with Prof. Celal Şengör and Prof. Tuncay Taymaz from Istanbul Tecnical University and a number of experts confirmed the information on the fault line. “A large number of researchers said these data were not adequate to explain, back in those days,” he said.
