Shaking in Bergheim: Light earthquake is startled by residents

Shaking in Bergheim: Light earthquake is startled by residents

An unusual natural spectacle made the residents of Bergheim, in the Rhein-Erft district, excitement from the night from August 28th to August 28th. A light earthquake shaked the quiet night and torn many people out of sleep. The cupboards shook and the glasses clinked - a scenario that is rather unusual for this region, rarely experienced records in seismological history. Fortunately, all residents remained intact, and no significant damage could not be reported.

The associated earthquake station of the University of Cologne in Bensberg registered the event at 0:11 a.m. at a depth of around 1.1 kilometers. With a magnitude of 2, the quake was classified as easy, which means that it does not always have to be noticeable. It is striking that the earthquake occurred near a open -cast mine, which is why experts suspect a connection. According to the experts, it was an earth -related earth blow that is due to industrial activities and not natural geological movements.

geological backgrounds and previous events

Only a few days ago, on August 24th, another earthquake -like event with a thickness of 1.3 near the Hambach open -cast mine was registered. This shows that there are simply more movements in this region that are associated with the open -cast mine. However, it is worth noting that in addition to these vibrations caused by human activities, natural tectonic movements also take place in the area, which can occasionally lead to noticeable earthquakes. Since 1955, over 2000 different earthquakes have been documented in the northern Rhineland and adjacent areas.

In the Rhenish lignite area, such earthquakes are often inconspicuous, since most of them are only micro-quakes that have a magnitude of under 2. In fact, stronger earthquakes from a magnitude of 3 or 4 are perceived more clearly, while from 6 by a "strong earthquake".

historical earthquakes in the region

However, the region also has its history in relation to serious seismic events. A remarkable example is the Euskirchen earthquake in 1951, which led to a magnitude of 5.1 and led to considerable destruction. Church buildings were damaged and there were injuries by falling debris. Another strong quake occurred in 1992 near Roermond in the Netherlands with a minimum funnel of 5.9, which also led to numerous injuries and a variety of building damage in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The last important quake in the region was documented in 2002 at Alsdorf; It had a magnitude of 5 and spread to a wide area to Luxembourg and Belgium. The geological service of North Rhine -Westphalia found that earthquakes should statistically occur every 15 years.

Current measurements show that the Lower Rhine Bay, including the Eifel, is one of the most active earthquake areas in Central Europe. The deep-seated DLF quibs, which occur at great depths, were also recorded there. An example of this is a quake of the magnitude 2.8, which was registered in the Eifel in September 2023.