Turkish earthquake: A wobbly domino falls

Last week’s disaster supports a theory about how one quake can trigger others.

Stein, R.S., A.A. Barka, and J.H. Dieterich. 1997. Progressive failure on the North Anatolian fault since 1939 by earthquake stress triggering. Geophysical Journal International 128:594.

Further information about the earthquake in Turkey is available at http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/study/turkey/ and http://www.koeri.boun.edu.tr/earthqk/earthquake.htm.

Nick N. Ambraseys
Imperial College
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2AZ
England

Ross S. Stein
U.S. Geological Survey
Mail Code 977
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Lynn R. Sykes
Columbia University
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Palisades, NY 10964

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 9, August 28, 1999, p. 132. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.