Some earthquakes have occurred in China, which have developed an interest in the geomorphology and paleoseismology of the place. Geomorphology refers to the study of the physical features of the earth’s surface and how they relate to the geological structures and objects. Paleo seismology on the other hand refers to the study of the old earthquakes that have occurred. The essay is based on the Geomorphology and Paleoseismology of the Weinan Fault, Shaanxi, Central China, and the Source of the 1556 Huaxian Earthquake.
In 1556 CE, the Huaxian Earthquake occurred and led to the death of at least 830000 people and caused destruction all over China Weihe Basin in China. The earthquake was due to the relations in the magnitude intensities that ranged from 8.25 to 8.50 (Feng et al., 2020). The most effective were felt in the Huashan faults and Weinan, which had fresh scarps. However, the intensities were not the highest since their magnitudes were smaller, hence explaining the recurrent occurrence between destructive earthquakes and the hazards they pose to Central China.
The Huaxian earthquake was caused by the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. When Indian forces drove towards Asia, it caused the Tibetan Plateau to move eastward of China (Zhang et al., 2021). This movement caused the Shaanxi earthquake, and it was also worsened by the geologic location of the Sichuan Basin, which caused more damage from the earthquake. The faults that caused the 1556 Shaanxi Earthquake were the southern major fault zone and the normal fault zone supporting the Ordos block, maintaining its rigidity. The earthquake was the deadliest earthquake recorded and only occurred for 23 seconds (Zhu, 2022). There was both destruction on the resources in China and the death of people in the 23 seconds of the occurrence of the earthquake.
References
Feng, X., Ma, J., Zhou, Y., England, P., Parsons, B., Rizza, M. A., & Walker, R. T. (2020). Geomorphology and Paleoseismology of the Weinan fault, Shaanxi, central China, and the source of the 1556 Huaxian earthquake. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 125(12). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jb017848
Zhang, Y., Zheng, S., Sun, L., Long, L., Yang, W., & Li, L. (2021). Developing GIS-based earthquake loss model: a case study of Baqiao District, China. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, 19(5), 2045-2079.
Zhu, S. (2022). Strain-Rates from GPS Measurements in the Ordos Block, China: Implications for Geodynamics and Seismic Hazards. Remote Sensing, 14(3), 779.
