|
The magnitude 7.7 that struck India on January 26 was nearly
as strong as the largest events of the New Madrid earthquake
series that struck the central United States in 1811-1812.
Like the New Madrid earthquakes, the Gujarat earthquake took
place in an intraplate setting; in old, cool rocks of the
central continent, termed the “stable craton” in
geologic parlance. Also like the New Madrid quakes, the Gujarat
earthquake was felt over a huge geographic area. The maps
shown above are approximately to scale, showing that the distribution
of groundshaking intensities was similar for the three earthquakes.
An earthquake of identical magnitude to the January 26 earthquake
struck the same general area of India on June 16, 1819, only
seven years after the New Madrid events.
next
|
