By Elisabetta Povoledo
...The authorities said (click here) the quake was comparable in intensity to one in 2009 in the Abruzzo region of central Italy that killed more than 300 people.
Towns in three regions — Umbria, Lazio and Marche — were devastated by the quake, which could be felt as far away as Bologna in the north and Naples in the south. The deaths appeared to be concentrated in four communities: at least 86 in the towns of Amatrice and Accumoli, in Lazio, and at least 32 deaths in Marche, in the village of Arquata del Tronto and the hamlet of Pescara del Tronto....
Italy has many mountains. Mountains add weight to the land. There are land areas that are not mountainous, but, they are a short distance to the Mediterranean Sea. The sea has no form and is in fact fluid adding instability to any shoreline. So when the weight of the mountains imposes against the land areas, there are earthquakes. Christchurch, New Zealand has the same phenomena.
There is always the chance the "Po Basin" (click here) added to the instability, especially given the petroleum siphoned out of that basin.
I suppose that is a question the Italian geologists will have to investigate. Any movement within the "piggyback basin" might cause destabilization of the weight of the mountain and it's balance with the land.
There is always the chance the "Po Basin" (click here) added to the instability, especially given the petroleum siphoned out of that basin. I suppose that is a question the Italian geologists will have to investigate. Any movement within the "piggyback basin" might cause destabilization of the weight of the mountain and it's balance with the land.
