Recent seismological surveys of the Sanchiao fault in the Taipei Basin showed that the fault line is much longer than estimated and could give rise to strong quakes of 7.0 or greater on the Richter scale, the Central Geological Survey (CGS) said.
CGS experts said that past surveys had shown the Sanchiao fault was 20km in length — stretching from Shulin (樹林) in the southwestern part of Taipei County to the Guandu Plains (關渡) in northern Taipei.
INACTIVE
Seismologists have speculated that the fault has been inactive for some 11,000 years.
However, the latest surveys conducted by the CGS showed that the fault extends up to 40km, going past Datunshan (大屯山) and Jinshan (金山) on the north coast.
“Some evidence suggests that the fault structure may extend even further into the sea, and some theories suggest a fault that combines land and sea structures that could produce even bigger earthquakes,” CGS deputy director Chiang Chung-jung (江崇榮) said.
Jung said that conventional means of measuring faults may have been influenced by human activity and are less accurate than the new method.
ACCURACY
The new detectors are positioned underground for greater accuracy and to allow for the detection of even small fault activity, he said.
Experts at the Central Weather Bureau said that although a longer fault line can theoretically cause bigger earthquakes, northern Taiwan is relatively stable geologically, with only 1 percent of the total number of earthquakes that occur in Taiwan centered in this area.
“It might be too early to panic simply because the Sanchiao fault is found to be longer than expected,” said Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋), director of the bureau’s Seismology Center.
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