Chinese and American researchers have been cooperating in studying
the cause of frequent strong earthquakes in southwestern Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region.
The researchers hope to find ways to efficiently monitor and
forecast future earthquakes in the region, said sources from
Xinjiang Seismological Bureau.
Researchers from the bureau, the State Seismological Bureau and
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of the United States have launched
a cooperative research project on the global dynamics of areas
south of the Tianshan Mountains.
Chinese seismologists used software for digital treatment and
computerized analysis to study and create a model showing how
earthquakes were formed, said the sources.
The researchers have installed four broadband digital seismographs
to facilitate the cooperation.
In
recent years, strong earthquakes on the Chinese mainland have
mostly centered on areas south of the Tianshan Mountains of
Xinjiang and southwest China's Yunnan Province.
In
February, for instance, a major earthquake registering 6.8 on the
Richter scale and 11 other aftershocks measuring from 5.0 to 6.0
struck Bachu and Jiashi, both south of the Tianshan Mountains,
killing 268 people.
(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2003)
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