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A TV showing the ground tearing apart in a major earthquake in Myanmar in March may be the first of its variety .
Thevideocaptures a ground rupture , the ripping of Earth ’s crust all the way up to the surface , during a major earthquake . The magnitude 7.7 temblor strike on March 28 at 12:50 p.m. local metre and was felt as far away as Thailand . almost 5,500 people died .
The video recording , post on Facebook by Singaporean applied scientist Htin Aung , comes from GP Energy Myanmar ’s Thapyawa solar farm , located near the township of Thazi , according to Aung ’s post . The feed is centre on a concrete - and - metal gate , which shudder and slides open as the ground start to move . About 14 seconds into the television , a crack opens across the drive and yard outside the gate , with the ground literally pulling apart .
" It ’s really kind of unsettling , " saidJohn Vidale , a seismologist at the University of Southern California Dornsife . Vidale told Live Science he knew of no other videos that show such a ground rupture . Rick Aster , a geophysicist at Colorado State University , hold .
" To my cognition , this is the good video we have of a throughgoing control surface break of a very great earthquake , " Aster tell Live Science .
The Myanmar seism occur on the Sagaing Fault between the Burma and Sunda tectonic plates , two minor tectonic plates . This error slices through central Myanmar in a unbent rail line , north to south . It ’s a transform demerit , just like California ’s noted San Andreas , where the two plates move side by side against each other .
The epicenter of the Myanmar quake , where the faulting rupture started , was north of the location in the TV , near the city of Mandalay . This rupture then propagated both north and south , cracking the soil all along the fault line .
" The factual segment of the Earth that is slipping side to side goes from the surface down to maybe 20 or 30 kilometers [ 12 to 19 miles ] depth , " Aster pronounce . Below that , the impertinence still moves , but the crust is more tractile and deforms rather than chap .
The shaking first seen in the video comes from the earthquake waves that speed out from the rupturing crack cocaine , Vidale said . Then , the break itself make it .
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Seismologists get good measurements of such ruptures from seismal stations that utilize GPS to quantify even tiny motility of the crust . They also often do fieldwork to find grounds of ruptures after they encounter , Aster said . " But we do n’t really realize the dynamics of what happened , exactly how things move , " he say . The picture might be useful for researchers who are trying to sympathise those unusual dynamic .
" I have no question that seismologist will take a very close look at this , " Aster said . " It will probably lead to some variety of a issue at some stage , if the location and other detail can be screen out . "
Live Science reached out to Aung and to GP Energy Myanmar and will update this history with further details , if available .
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