3 km deep wells could help predict future earthquakes in China

Washington, Nov 19 : A team of scientists is planning to dig three narrow wells, 3-kilometers deep, into the Earth's crust, which would help them to predict future earthquakes in China.

China's Szechwan province recently went through a devastating earthquake on May 12 this year, which resulted in 70,000 deaths and 20,000 missing.

Equivalent to 1,200 H-bombs, it pulverized the earth's crust for more than 280 kilometers, in the space of 90 seconds, destroying entire cities and swallowing up eight million homes.

Two months later, Ji ShaoCheng of the Universite de Montreal's affiliated engineering school Ecole Polytechnique arrived in Szechwan province to study the damage first hand.

The extent of the damage was unimaginable: roads and bridges collapsed, schools turned into rubble, and bodies of men and women everywhere.

According to ShaoCheng, this tragedy could have been avoided.

"There hasn't been on earthquake in Szechwan province for 300 years. Chinese authorities thought the fault was dead," he said.

The problem is that China relied on GPS data, which showed movements of 2 mm per year in certain areas when in reality the shifts were much bigger.

"GPS is high-tech, but do we really know how to interpret its data?," he questioned.

ShaoCheng was recruited by one of his ex-colleagues with whom he completed his PhD in Montpellier and who now works for the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences.

His mission is to dig three narrow wells, 3-kilometers deep, into the earth's crust for a whopping 75 million dollars.

"The drilling will allow us to see the characteristics of the rocks before and after the earthquake. We will also measure their thermal properties and fluid pressure," said ShaoCheng.

"One of these wells will have a seismometer and another will be equipped with a device similar to a stethoscope designed to listen to the earth's heartbeat," he added.

ANI