Nature’s Fault Could Prove Costly For Australia; Ring Of Fire Declared Seismically Active Zone

It is time to know about Australia's cataclysmic risks, geologists warn lately. A 60,000 sq km tear in the Banda Sea could prove to be a death knell for Australia. It is because geologists have now revealed some of the disasters that this anomaly can create for the land down under.

This region has been found to be at risk from severe and highly damaging earthquakes and tsunamis. The risk, geologists say, is due to a tear in the Earth's crust. Scientists have found a tear in the sea floor north of Australia. The tear is estimated to measure about 60,000 sq km and is located in the Banda Sea, reveals News.com.au.

This tear that is 7 kilometres deep can trigger one of the worst tsunamis and catastrophic earthquakes, scientists warn. This fault under sea has the capacity to tear the Land of the Kangaroos apart. It is touted to be one of the biggest anomalies of the planet, which traverses through the Ring of Fire.

The Ring of Fire, a region in the Pacific Ocean, is infamous for the number of earthquakes and tsunamis that have occurred in this region. Allegedly, close to 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur in this region, along the Ring of Fire, as revealed by The United States Geological Survey.  

Proof of Heightened Seismic Activity

Western Indonesia suffered a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale that rendered 84,000 people homeless and killed more than 100.

The Japanese coast of Fukushima suffered a powerful earthquake measuring 6.9 magnitude along with tsunami waves on Nov. 22 this year.

Queensland East Coast suffered a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in August 2016. This was thought to be the worst quake in 20 years.

Explaining why the region around the Ring of Fire is risk prone for earthquakes and tsunami, Behzad Fetahi, senior professor at Geotechnical and Earthquake, said, "Tectonic plates  move away from each other and push each other, it's one of those very active areas."

Australian National University lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Pownall said, "The hole has been known for 90 years but until now no one has been able to explain how it got so deep."

Scientists have named the deep hole as Banda Detachment, and they believe it was created by subduction, where one tectonic plate shifts or undergoes moment under another. This movement pushes it downward, sinking through the Earth's crust.

According to Dr. Pownall, this discovery may pave the way for better risk analysis to predict tsunamis and earthquakes in the future.