Turkey is located on a highly active Eurasian geological plate, the source of numerous large scale earthquakes throughout the country's history. The earliest recorded earthquake dates to 411 B.C. There have been nearly 100 earthquakes with magnitudes 7.0 or greater in Turkey; and fourteen earthquakes with casualties of more than 10,000 have occurred since 342 A.D.
Due to its organic system, geology, topography and climate, Turkey is exposed to various natural disasters resulting in substantial loss of life and property damage. There have been 58 major destructive earthquakes during the period of 1903- 1999, which collectively have killed more than 100,000 people, injured and impaired another 150,000 and destroyed about 420,000 homes and buildings.
Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of complex earth movements that have shaped Anatolia over thousands of years and still manifest themselves in fairly frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. Except for a relatively small portion of its territory along the Syrian border that is a continuation of the Arabian Platform, Turkey geologically is part of the great Alpine belt that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalaya Mountains. This belt was formed during the Tertiary Period (about 65 million to 1.6 million B.C.), as the Arabian, African, and Indian continental plates began to collide with the Eurasian plate, and the sedimentary layers laid down by the prehistoric Tethyan Sea buckled, folded, and contorted. The intensive folding and uplifting of this mountain belt was accompanied by strong volcanic activity and intrusions of igneous rock material, followed by extensive faulting during the Quaternary Period, which began about 1.6. million B.C. This folding and faulting process is still at work, as the Turkish and Aegean plates, moving south and southwest, respectively, continue to collide. As a result, Turkey has been one of the world's more active earthquake and volcano regions.
Due to its organic system, geology, topography and climate, Turkey is exposed to various natural disasters resulting in substantial loss of life and property damage. There have been 58 major destructive earthquakes during the period of 1903- 1999, which collectively have killed more than 100,000 people, injured and impaired another 150,000 and destroyed about 420,000 homes and buildings.
Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of complex earth movements that have shaped Anatolia over thousands of years and still manifest themselves in fairly frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. Except for a relatively small portion of its territory along the Syrian border that is a continuation of the Arabian Platform, Turkey geologically is part of the great Alpine belt that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalaya Mountains. This belt was formed during the Tertiary Period (about 65 million to 1.6 million B.C.), as the Arabian, African, and Indian continental plates began to collide with the Eurasian plate, and the sedimentary layers laid down by the prehistoric Tethyan Sea buckled, folded, and contorted. The intensive folding and uplifting of this mountain belt was accompanied by strong volcanic activity and intrusions of igneous rock material, followed by extensive faulting during the Quaternary Period, which began about 1.6. million B.C. This folding and faulting process is still at work, as the Turkish and Aegean plates, moving south and southwest, respectively, continue to collide. As a result, Turkey has been one of the world's more active earthquake and volcano regions.
No comments:
Post a Comment