Earthquake in Morocco, the Atlas chain compressed

The 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Morocco occurred alongside the Atlas mountain vary, with a compression motion generated by the push of the African plate in direction of the European one. “It’s an earthquake that’s a part of the seismicity that characterizes all of the Atlas mountains”, mentioned seismologist Carlo Meletti, of the Nationwide Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

The mountains, which separate the Sahara desert from the Atlantic Ocean, have been the scene of one other earthquake of magnitude 5.8, which occurred in 1960 in Agadir, in southern Morocco, and which brought about round 15,000 victims. “At the moment’s earthquake occurred on the identical axis,” Meletti mentioned once more.

“The Atlas Mountains are one of many two areas of Morocco with the best seismicity. The opposite is positioned alongside the Mediterranean coast, the place a devastating earthquake occurred in Fez in 1624”, mentioned the seismologist. The mountain vary is characterised by a north-south compression motion. That’s to say that to the south lies the African plate, the so-called ‘steady Africa,’ “a continent that strikes virtually like a single object” and whose push in direction of the north interacts with the European plate and generated the Atlas chain, with a compressive motion.

Injury much more than 400 km from the epicenter

The earthquake that hit Morocco final night time was felt in a lot of the nation and brought about injury even over 400 km from the epicentre: that is indicated by a map of the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Middle revealed by the Nationwide Institute of Geophysics on its web site .

The earthquake of magnitude 7 in response to the Nationwide Institute of Geophysics of Morocco (6.8 in response to the US Geophysical Institute) was felt from North to South, each within the inside areas of the nation and within the coastal areas. Many testimonies reported by the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Middle on its web site communicate of robust tremors and collapses. From Marrakech, which is 79 kilometers from the epicentre, photographs have arrived of crumbling partitions and folks taking to the streets; photographs of collapses additionally arrived from Dakhla, 128 kilometers away from the epicenter of the earthquake, in addition to from Agadir (129 kilometres); photographs of cracks within the partitions additionally arrived from Tabant (199 kilometers) and pictures of collapses have been additionally despatched to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Middle from Temara (356 kilometers) and Meknès (417 kilometers).

Map of the realm the place the earthquake in Morocco on 9 September 2023 was felt (supply: Csem-Esmc)

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