MILITARY OPERATION IN IRAQ CAN CAUSE HEAVY EARTHQUAKES IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

PanARMENIAN.Net - The US military operations against Iraq can cause heavy earthquakes in the South Caucasian region. President of the Armenian Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth, Professor Sergey Balasanian told "Arminfo" agency today. In his words, if Americans use depth charges when bombing Iraq as it was in Afghanistan - and such bombs will to all appearance used in Iraq, too - it will case movements of the earth's crust, which will bring on seismic activity in the entire region. Armenia is situated in the Caucasian segment of the Alpine-Himalayan belt, as well as Turkey, Iran and the North Caucasian region. In the scientist's opinion, the Iraqi authorities' burning of several oil derricks today will also entail serious changes in the environment, which can cause changes in the climate. If oil derricks are furthermore bombed, which is very likely in the course of the military operation, it will inevitably result in "oil compression in the active gap," which can cause heavy earthquakes, the seismologist emphasized.