Seismologist of the Russian Academy of Sciences Tatevosyan: people have not yet learned how to artificially cause earthquakes
Scientists have been studying and discussing the possibility of artificially causing destructive earthquakes for a long time, but so far this is not possible. This was told to Lente.ru by the deputy director of technical seismology and seismic hazard assessment of the Institute of Physics of the Earth RAS Ruben Tatevosyan.
The seismologist explained that this process is called “induced seismicity”. Indian scientists were the first to talk about the possible human impact on seismic activity. They noticed that after the construction of the dam on the Koyna River in India and filling the reservoir in 1962, the following year an increase in seismic activity began to be noted in this area, and five years later an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 occurred. Before the filling of the tank, there were no shocks with a magnitude greater than 4 points in the area.
“The mechanism for the occurrence of induced seismicity is not completely clear. Perhaps the penetration of water at great depths disturbs the balance of hydrostatic pressure and causes movement along a fault hidden under the bottom of the reservoir. Induced seismicity can also occur when fluid is injected into deep wells,” he explained.
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The seismologist added that the Sultz project was carried out in France, the essence of which was to use deep heat. Simultaneously with the deep liquid pumping test, a dense network of high-sensitivity seismic stations was deployed, which detected a sharp increase in the number of earthquakes, albeit small ones. Tatevosyan noted that the earthquakes had a “very local” effect.
After the earthquake of Turkey, which happened on February 6, conspiracy theories about its artificial origin have been discussed online. However, according to experts, it is impossible to cause such powerful earthquakes of human origin. Thus, the military observer Alexei Sukonkin explain News.ru that the artificial shifting of tectonic plates “unrealistically” requires a lot of energy. Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Director of the Institute of Seismology and Geodynamics of KFU. Vernadsky Yuri Volfman in a conversation with RIA News also said that earthquakes of such power cannot be created artificially.