The newly discovered GPS method could be used to detect a coming Megaquake

Earthquakes are among the most powerful natural events on the planet. Perhaps you have already experienced it at some point in your life. For the uninitiated, earthquakes involve the powerful movement of rocks in the earth's crust.

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The rapid release of energy creates seismic waves that cross the Earth. To measure the strength of one earthquake, researchers use seismometers.

However, what is interesting is that you are unlikely to experience a magnitude 3 earthquake, but a magnitude 6 earthquake could potentially cause significant damage. Megacakes can be extremely destructive, as evidenced by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that killed more than 15,000 people March 11, 2011, in the Tohoku region of Japan.

After reviewing databases dating back to the early 1990s, researchers at the University of Oregon have discovered information that could be useful in creating early detection systems for potentially destructive earthquakes.

Detect earthquakes

The research team discovered a 10-15 seconds moment during an event that may signal a magnitude 7 mega-quake. Using GPS information Diego Melgar, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oregon, believes that this data could dramatically improve the value of early warning systems to earthquakes.

The team discovered that there is a moment in time when an early-stage earthquake turns into a slip impulse where mechanical properties indicate magnitude. The GPS data that has detected the maximum rate of acceleration of soil movement reveal that the GPS detects the smallest movements of the first moments of an earthquake.

Basically, the acceleration rate of ground displacement followed by GPS in real time could be decisive.

Melgar came across these bosses more by examining vast databases containing information on more than 3000 earthquakes. As part of the research, Meglar discovered indicators of acceleration of displacement that surface between 10-20 seconds in the events and that were seen for 12 Major earthquakes that occurred in 2003-2016.

"We can do a lot with GPS stations on the coasts of Oregon and Washington, but that comes with a delay," said Melgar. "When an earthquake begins to move, it would take some time before the information on the flaw's movement reaches the coast stations," said Melgar.

"This delay would have an impact on when a warning could be issued.The inhabitants of the coast would not be warned because they were in a blind zone."