What Happens If There Is An Earthquake Of 20.0 Magnitude?

Every year around the world 20,000, On average, there are 55 earthquakes per day, but most of them are not felt because they are only minor tremors. The magnitude of these earthquakes is measured on the Richter scale.

Because we live in an earthquake country You have known such information for years. However, things get complicated when it comes to a 20.0 magnitude earthquake scenario.

The Richter scale ranks the amount of energy released by an earthquake in a logarithmic fashion. So what does logarithmic mean?

So this means that the amount of energy released is a 31.7 times increase between integer values ​​on the scale. For example, 2.0ML [2 büyüklüğünde] an earthquake releases about 32 times more energy than 1.0ML. If it is a 3.0ML earthquake, it is 1.0ML. 1000 times is stronger.

The largest earthquake ever recorded was 9.5 magnitude and lasted about ten minutes.

In this earthquake in Chile in 1960, 1655 people died and Two million people were left homeless. In addition, approximately five billion dollars of damage was caused.

Covering southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands immediately after the earthquake tsunamis had occurred.

You can read the details of this earthquake in our content:

Let’s come to our main question: What would it take for an earthquake with a magnitude of 20.0 to occur?

To better understand this It is useful to remember our basic information. As you know, most earthquakes are caused by the movements of tectonic plates. They can also be caused by events such as volcanic eruptions and meteorite impacts.

These plates that make up the earth’s crust, conversion limit They can slide against each other in a region called When plates move in different directions, they can cause a break in the earth’s crust called a fault line. This is where most earthquakes occur.

As the plates push each other tightly, they create friction and if there is enough friction locking into each other They can stop slipping. But as the thrust continues, the pent-up energy and pressure will increase.

When the pressure is high enough, it overcomes the friction and causes a very strong and sudden slip. will cause. This causes the vibration we know as an earthquake. The longer the fault line, the greater the earthquake.

So how long a fault line would it take to produce a 20.0 magnitude earthquake?

To produce a 10.5 magnitude earthquake, approximately 80,000 km you will need a fault length. Given that the Earth’s circumference is only 40,000 km, this is highly unlikely.

Therefore, a 20.0 magnitude earthquake “caused by a fault line” does not seem possible. But don’t be overjoyed, it can happen in a different way.

In the event of a large meteorite hit, We are subject to a shock that will last longer than any earthquake we have ever experienced.

Tremor and aftershocks wouldn’t stop for hours. There would be tsunamis of unprecedented size, and if the meteorite fell into an ocean, the waves would reach up to the sky.

As if that wasn’t enough, other earthquakes would also be triggered and volcanic eruptions would occur. The whole Earth would literally fall apart.

If the planet will not be completely disintegrated to “gravitational binding energy” it depends. What is that, if you say; It is the minimum value required for a spherical and whole object to stay together under the influence of gravity, but these details are the subject of a separate content.

A 20.0 magnitude earthquake overcomes the gravitational binding energy. to destroy our planet will produce more than enough energy. Actually, you don’t have to worry too much, it is possible to defend ourselves against this danger by foreseeing the arrival of a large meteorite.

For example, NASA is taking important steps in this regard:

Maybe the world is ready for such a possible danger, but we are not ready for an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 yet, it is necessary to find a solution first. We did not forget: