GEOLOGIST DOMINGOS RODRIGUES POINTS OUT REASONS FOR THE ORIGIN OF EARTHQUAKES FELT TODAY IN MADEIRA
The geologist and professor at the University of Madeira today explained to Jornal Madeira the reasons that could be the cause of the earthquakes of magnitude 5.3 and 2.4, on the Richter scale, which today rocked Madeira and Porto Santo.
“Our tectonic plates are moving. And, when moving, there are points where an energy release is created ”, he said, admitting that the earthquakes may have been due to the“ normal movement of the plates ”or be related to“ Funchal Ridge ”- an area that is in“ continuity of the cones of São Martinho, which enters into the sea and is a few kilometers wide ”.
In this zone, which experts call “Funchal Ridge”, there are a series of cones that result from “eruptions that have happened” due to an existing “fracture”.
“Everything indicates that it happened in that area, which makes sense,” he said, stressing, however, that this is an assumption, because at the moment there is not enough data to assess what exactly happened.
EARTHQUAKE WAS AT THE LIMIT OF CAUSING DAMAGE .
Vitor Prior, IPMA regional delegate in Madeira, says that it is still not possible to rule out, with 100% certainty, the possibility of new replicas, or aftershocks.
The 5.3 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale, which was recorded, at 8:58 pm, 38 km from the Desertas islands and about 50 km from Funchal, was at the limit of causing damage, he told JM Vitor Prior.
The IPMA delegate in Madeira says earthquakes with magnitude from 5.4 are already causing damage and notes cases of glasses and other broken objects in Funchal, following this event.
According to IPMA, the earthquake that hit the island is not of volcanic origin and will be related to a readjustment of tectonic plates.
EARTHQUAKE IN MADEIRA FELT IN TENERIFE.
The Madeira earthquake was also felt in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Jornal Madeira learns from the geologist Brum da Silveira, who is in that city.
The author of the geological map of Madeira, contacted by JM, said he did not feel the earthquake but that there were those who did.