Turkey-Syria tremors recorded in Koyna's seismology centre

KOLHAPUR: The Wood-Anderson seismometer fitted in Koyna’s seismology centre has recorded the seismic activities that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria earlier this week.
Around 6.55am on Monday, the seismometer at the Koyna centre began recording the tremors felt over 4,500km away, registering approximately 6.7 on the Richter Scale. The actual quake recorded at Turkey was 7.8 on the scale.
While such recording of quakes so far off is a surprise for many, it’s not so for the Koyna centre staff. A senior official, requesting anonymity, said, “The Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat and the tsunami tremors in the Indian Ocean were also recorded earlier on this seismometer. It is a highly sensitive instrument, no matter the distance.
The old machinery was replaced with a new version over two decades ago. It is of immense use to study quakes occurring at different locations across the globe.” The Wood-Anderson seismometer was developed in the 1920s by Hary Wood and John Anderson in California, USA.
The Koyna dam was built in 1962. In 1967, the region felt its worst0ever tremors of 6.6 magnitude on the Richter Scale. Since then, no major tremors have been felt, but those measuring less than 4 on the scale are regular.
The official added, “We are usually concerned with tremors in the 40km surrounding the dam. So, we do not make public the recordings for tremors felt elsewhere. However, recordings of such far-away tremors shows that the equipment is still in good condition. We are on the right track with respect to maintenance.”