SEISMIC CYCLES: Taiwan has many mountains higher than 3,000m, but it is not yet clear how they arose from the Earth’s crust and the study could offer clues
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 28, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
Academia Sinica geoscience researchers yesterday unveiled a study that used GPS data
Academia Sinica Institute of Earth Sciences researchers Hsu Ya-ju, right, and Tang Chi-hsien in Taipei yesterday present their study into geological changes following the 921 Earthquake. Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
to track the nation’s crustal changes following the 921 Earthquake in 1999, to shed more light on the creation of mountains and seismic cycles.
The magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred on Sept. 21, 1999, in Nantou County’s Jiji Township (集集), leaving 2,456 people dead and destroying thousands of buildings.
Subterranean rocks at a depth of 20km had stabilized one year after the quake, but deeper layers might be still changing very slowly today, Academia Sinica Institute of Earth Sciences researcher Hsu Ya-ju (許雅儒) said.
While GPS data has been used to study fault lines in previous studies, the team developed a new method of using such data to model geographical changes from the Earth’s surface to subterranean layers 50km in depth without having to make a lot of hypotheses, she said. [FULL STORY]
