Taipei 101 Causes Earthquakes?
Taipei 101 is a building with a lot to boast about. Standing 508 metres (1,667ft) high, it is the world’s tallest. And at 700,000 tonnes, it must be among the heaviest. But Taipei 101 is thought to have triggered two recent earthquakes because of the stress that it exerts on the ground beneath it.
According to the geologist Cheng Horng Lin, from the National Taiwan Normal University, the stress from the skyscraper may have reopened an ancient earthquake fault. If he is right, then it raises concerns about proposals such as Sky City 1000 in Japan, the vertical city that has been proposed to solve Tokyo’s housing problems. And it is not just skyscrapers that are a problem. Dams and underground waste deposits may also cause rumblings if they become too large.
Before the construction of Taipei 101, the Taipei basin was a very stable area with no active earthquake faults at the surface. Its earthquake activity was similar to parts of the UK, with micro-earthquakes (less than magnitude 2) happening about once a year.
However, once Taipei 101 started to rise from the ground, things changed. “The number of earthquakes increased to around two micro-earthquakes per year during the construction period (1997 to 2003).
“Since the construction finished there have been two larger earthquakes (magnitude 3.8 and 3.2) directly beneath Taipei 101, which were big enough to feel,” says Dr Lin.
Read the rest of this fascinating report at Guardian Online »
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