Boomerang Earthquake: What, Why and How❓

A strange Boomerang earthquake was recorded for the first time at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2016, a huge earthquake was recorded in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. But it was of a somewhat unusual nature, never seen before. Its waves first move eastward but then change direction and move westward. In geological terms it is called boomerang earthquake.

Earthquakes usually move in one direction. But scientists have long been talking about boomerang earthquakes. Computer models have also confirmed that such earthquakes were possible. But never before has it been directly recorded scientifically.

These surprisingly complex earthquakes usually occur in a kind of deviation area of ​​the crust called the "transform fault". Such cracks are usually linear and separate the two adjacent crusts (tectonic plates). Although such deviations abound along the middle of the ocean, they are also found between continental plates. This suggests that other linear cracks, such as the San Andres Falls off the coast of California, could have similar strange boomerang earthquakes.

Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at London's Imperial College and co-author of the study, said: "Such complex earthquakes are not uncommon, not surprising because most cracks are complex in nature." In general, sea transform faults pose very little danger to humans. These are far from the coast and their motion is horizontal, so there is no tsunami when these cracks form.

However, it is important to understand these deviations, as transformers like San Andres are in fault lands that are very close to the locality. "By understanding how these transform faults at sea work, we can get some information about how more complex cracks like the San Andres crack can work," Hicks said.

There are 3 types of motion in the tectonic plates of the earth. Mutual-oriented, inter-oriented and side-by-side motion. Transform faults are commonly seen in side-by-side moving plates. However, in the middle of the ocean, where the tectonic plates move away from each other, that is, transformation faults are also seen between the opposite-facing plates. The speed at which the two opposite-facing plates move away is not the same at all points. This results in straight line-like cracks in the scattered areas.

"Probably a relatively large number of earthquakes occur in these cracks every 20 to 50 years," Hicks said. He and his team set up seismographs at the bottom of the ocean to record earthquakes in the Romanch Spreading Zone, an area near the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Shortly afterwards, in August 2016, they recorded a magnitude 7.1 earthquake near the region. The region has seen 13 earthquakes measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale since 1980.

We cannot predict earthquakes because we do not know exactly what happened along with the deviation during the earthquake. Boomerang earthquakes may still be rare, but researchers believe that the door is now open for better understanding of earthquakes.

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