Snowstorm, Earthquakes, and an AvalancheThis week the Marche region of Italy suffered a devastating

Snowstorm, Earthquakes, and an AvalancheThis week the Marche region of Italy suffered a devastating series of events: unusually heavy snowfall toppled power and phone lines, then a series of earthquakes hit, which triggered an avalanche that buried a small hotel killing at least 10 people. This is the same region, but not the same towns, where 298 people were killed by building collapses after a magnitude 6 earthquake struck on August 24 (http://bit.ly/2j4sh9q).The trouble started with 36 hours of snowfall, described by some as the worst snow in decades for the area, which left authorities struggling to clear roads and keep the power on. Then the earthquakes started. On January 18, 4 quakes measuring over magnitude 5 struck within about 4 hours along a shallow normal fault in the Central Apennines mountains. These quakes are considered a continuation of the sequence that the deadly August quake belongs to as well. 75 events of magnitude 4.0 or larger have occurred since August 24, but the cluster of 4 hit at the same time as the unusually heavy snow, resulting in an avalanche that brought tons of snow down on a small hotel with about 30 people inside. The first rescuers had to arrive on skies because the snow-covered roads were still impassable. Some of the hotels guests and staff have been rescued, others have died, and the rest are missing.Italy is prone to earthquakes. The Apennine Mountains were formed due to a subduction zone between the colliding Eurasian and African tectonic plates. Now the region is also being pulled apart. The Tyrrhenian basin beneath the Mediterranean Sea is slowly opening up. Making things even worse, the relatively small J-shaped Adriatic Plate, which broke off from the African plate and is located right under about half of Italy, is moving counter-clockwise. Italy is being push and pulled in multiple directions.Rescue efforts are still on-going in sub-zero temperature; hopefully the remaining missing will be found alive. Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to be the end of the earthquake sequence.REPhoto Credit: Reutershttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38674788References: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us10007twj#executivehttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/world/europe/italy-avalanche.html?_r=0http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38663608http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/geology-behind-italys-catastrophic-quake-180960233/ -- source link
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