The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Geologists, Abdulaziz bin Laboun, affirmed that the Gulf region is somewhat safe from the major risks of earthquakes, despite its location within the Arabian Plate, which has been witnessing seismic activity and cracks for millions of years.
Ben Laboun explained the reasons in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, saying that “the countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, eastern Syria and Jordan formed what is geologically known as the Arab slab or plate, which is a mass of the Arab crust that separated from the African plate regarding 30 million years ago.” year, and since then it has been moving northeast at a rate of 2 cm per year.”
He added, “As a result of that movement, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden were formed and expanded, and the Arabian plate collided with the Iranian and Turkish plates, and the Oman and Zagros mountain ranges in southwestern Iran and the Taurus mountains in southeastern Turkey were formed, and a series of transformational faults formed along the Gulf of Aqaba-Dead Sea and north. and the Gulf of Aden-Arabian Sea fault chain (Owen Line).
Eastern Mediterranean earthquake.. more than 17 thousand dead
He explained that all the aforementioned areas constitute an active belt of earthquakes and rifts, and this belt is still active, seismic and rifting for millions of years.
types of earthquakes
Tectonic map of the Arabian plate
Tectonic map of the Arabian plate
He stressed that although earthquakes may occur anywhere, the Gulf region in general does not face significant risks for these reasons:
- Most of the Gulf region is far from the contact lines with dangerous earthquake zones.
- Only Saudi Arabia among the Gulf states has limited areas in contact with the seismic zone that extends from the Gulf of Aqaba in the north to southeast Turkey.
- The successive earthquakes in the Gulf region may not be felt by people.
- Along the coast of the Red Sea, a thousand earthquakes occur daily, which do not result in any dangers.
Seismic activity is generally concentrated in these areas:
- Northwest of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and southeast of Turkey.
- Northern Iraq, southwestern Iran and Oman.
- Yemen and southwestern Saudi Arabia.
- Southwestern Iran
Dangerous cracks in the Al-Tulul Dam on the Orontes River
