valich
12-04-05, 07:19 PM
Geologist at the Institute of Earth Sciences at Taiwan's Academia Sinica, say seismic activity historically had been low in the Taipei basin, but has experienced more micro-earthquakes (of magnitude 2.0-2.5 on the Richter scale) since construction began on the 508 meter (1,667 foot) skyscraper in 1997.
"There is a distinct possibility of earthquakes being triggered by the recent construction of the world's highest building, the imposing Taipei 101," Lin Cheng-horng wrote in an article published in the Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 32 on Nov. 30.
Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin, but Taipei itself has suffered minimal tremors in the past as it lies over the western boundary of the Philippine Sea plate.
Lin said Taipei 101 weighed 700,000 tons and estimated stress from vertical loading on its foundation at 4.7 bars, of which some would be transferred to the earth's upper crust due to extremely soft sedimentary rocks beneath the Taipei basin. "If a fault is about to crack, then a little pressure can trigger an earthquake. It's like the last straw that breaks the camel's back," Lin told Reuters in a telephone interview."
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/02/taipei.tower.reut/index.html
"There is a distinct possibility of earthquakes being triggered by the recent construction of the world's highest building, the imposing Taipei 101," Lin Cheng-horng wrote in an article published in the Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 32 on Nov. 30.
Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin, but Taipei itself has suffered minimal tremors in the past as it lies over the western boundary of the Philippine Sea plate.
Lin said Taipei 101 weighed 700,000 tons and estimated stress from vertical loading on its foundation at 4.7 bars, of which some would be transferred to the earth's upper crust due to extremely soft sedimentary rocks beneath the Taipei basin. "If a fault is about to crack, then a little pressure can trigger an earthquake. It's like the last straw that breaks the camel's back," Lin told Reuters in a telephone interview."
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/02/taipei.tower.reut/index.html