Faults are fractures in the rocks that form the crust of the Earth.

Earthquakes in Delhi: Delhi to get eight more earthquake sensors! The National Capital Region (NCR) will be installed with eight more earthquake sensors, as the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) aims to discover the geological faults in the area which is witnessing higher seismic activity, a report by IE has said. The report quoted NCS Director Dr B K Bansal as saying that the decision has been taken due to the frequent minor earthquakes witnessed in the NCR over the past two months. Between April 12 and June 8, Delhi and the surrounding areas have witnessed as many as 17 earthquakes between 1.8 and 4.5 magnitudes.

As per the report, at present, NCR has been fitted with nine permanent detectors or sensors, while Delhi has 10, of which, three have been installed recently. While two were installed after a 4.5 magnitude earthquake was recorded near Rohtak on May 29, another was installed on June 3, after Greater Noida experienced a magnitude 3 earthquake.

The report quoted Dr Bansal as saying that the new sensors would be portable instruments which had been originally procured for other purposes. However, they would install them in NCR over the next week, which would help them classify the earthquakes by the faults they are a part of.

Faults are fractures in the rocks that form the crust of the Earth. These faults can range between a few millimetres and thousands of kilometres, as per the IE report. When an earthquake occurs, rock on one side of the fault slips as compared to the other. Near Delhi, there are several faults, according to Dr Bansal, including the Mathura fault, Mahendragarh-Dehradun fault, Moradabad fault and Delhi-Haridwar range.

Moreover, the Delhi-Haridwar range and Mahendragarh-Dehradun fault are parallel to each other and very close, and therefore, more sensors would equip the centre to trace which earthquake belongs to which fault.

Dr Bansal further said, as per the report, that they want to see the structures recording more seismic activity, aiding in computation of the energy released in these earthquakes. With these details, the centre would be better prepared.

He also said that the mild earthquakes in and around Delhi are not unusual and nor are they foreshocks leading to a larger earthquake.