Scientists are deliberately triggering earthquakes, all zero magnitude. Here's why

Scientists in Switzerland are triggering earthquakes deep inside the Alps in a bid to understand this natural occurrence. Researchers with the Fault Activation and Earthquake Rupture (FEAR) project want to learn about the immediate trigger of earthquakes and why some affect a larger portion of fault lines, causing greater destruction. With this aim in mind, the researchers are creating earthquakes artificially in controlled conditions. Domenico Giardini, professor of seismology and geodynamics at ETH Zürich, told Live Science that at the moment, geoscientists are only able to study these events after they happen. "What are the signs that nature is telling us?" Giardini said. "Invariably, they become clear after the quake, not before, so we are trying to understand much better how to see the signs."

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Why choose Alps for the earthquake experiment?

The tremors are being created in a tunnel that was once built for the construction of a railway project. The Alps were the perfect location since these mountains are deeply faulted. Millions of years of tectonic activity have left a zigzag network of scars deep beneath these mountains. Small tremors are occasionally caused when the rocks on the sides of these faults slip. To create earthquakes, the team pumps water into one of these fault lines. The process is similar to what oil and gas companies do to reduce friction between the faults, where they inject wastewater from wells into faulted areas.

Giardini said these earthquakes would have occurred during the lifetime of the Alps; it's just that they are choosing to trigger one when they want. The team has placed a huge network of seismometers and accelerometers on the fault to gauge how they move and note the readings when friction is reduced. They have successfully triggered hundreds of thousands of quakes till now, but only of magnitude zero. Notably, earthquakes can measure a magnitude of zero and even go down to negative numbers. In March, they plan to increase the magnitude to one. The next step for now is to inject hot water into the fault to see how temperature affects the evolution of an earthquake. This study will basically help learn beforehand the factors that trigger an earthquake of a particular magnitude and which faults are dangerous than the other.