Russian Journal of Earth Sciences
Vol. 5, No. 6, December 2003
A strong earthquake of 2003 in Gornyi Altai
E. A. Rogozhin, A. N. Ovsyuchenko, A. R. Geodakov, and S. G. Platonova
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to
describe the macroseismic, geological, and seismological
manifestations of the strong earthquake that occurred in the south
of the Gornyi (Mountainous) Altai area on September 27, 2003. The
earthquake caused damage to buildings and constructions in the
area of the Chuya and Kurai depressions and was accompanied by the
manifestation of the earthquake source on the ground
surface with the formation of a system of WNW-oriented faults,
which has been traced over a distance of 20 km in the region of
the eastward plunge of the North Chuya Range. Secondary seismic
dislocations manifested themselves in the form of rockfalls,
landslides, and griffons in the area of the
pleistoseist zone. The results of the preliminary study of the
tectonic position of the earthquake source suggest that the
Gornyi Altai is a direct continuation of the Mongolia
and Gobi Altai areas, where earthquakes with magnitudes of more
than 7.0 were recorded repeatedly, and allow us to
combine all of the mountain systems of the Great Altai into one
high-magnitude seismotectonic province.