The goal of this study was to examine the danger of six North Korean underground nuclear tests to the regional safety associated with deadly earthquakes and volcanoes. Geological instabilities at Cretaceous granites were triggered by North Korean nuclear tests to induce the enhanced seismic impacts on earthquakes in China, Russia, Japan, Taiwan (China), South Korea, USA, Ecuador, Vanuatu, Indonesia, and Mexico after lag times between the nuclear test site and individual epicenters. It is urgent to prohibit North Korean nuclear tests for the regional stability of surrounding countries with Cretaceous granites.
Nuclear testing has often been used as an indicator of scientific and military strength, and many nuclear weapons states publicly declared their nuclear status by means of a nuclear test [
The case of the Chinese Tangshan 1976 earthquake (M7.8) which caused 800,000 deaths [
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impacts of six North Korean nuclear tests on corresponding earthquakes in China, Russia, Japan, Taiwan (China), Indonesia, Vanuatu, South Korea, USA, Ecuador, and Mexico.
Recently, there was a landslide that caused 140 deaths at Mao in Sichuan in China on June 24, 2017, M 5.7 at Niigata of Japan in June 25, 2017, M 5.7 at western Montana of USA in July 06, 2017. M 8.1 hit Mexico off the southern coast causing 100 deaths in September 08, 2017, followed by M 7.1 which killed 370 people in September 19, 2017. Such locations all consist of Cretaceous granites like the Punggae-ri nuclear test site in North Korea. At Sichuan in China, 68,712 people were killed by an earthquake with M 8.0 in 2008 while 11 people were killed at Niigata in Japan by an earthquake of M 6.6 in 2007. The Sichuan and Niigata earthquakes occurred 578 and 277 days after the first nuclear test by North Korea, respectively. In addition, the Montana earthquake happened 297 days after the fifth test, and the Oaxaca and Puebla earthquakes in Mexico took place 5 and 16 days after the sixth test by North Korea, correspondingly. The geological distributions of Cretaceous granite in surrounding countries might amplify the seismic energies due to the constructive interference of the same Cretaceous granites in resonance between the North Korean nuclear test site and epicenters. North Korean nuclear tests have coincidently caused instabilities in fragile terrains in China, Japan, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, USA, Ecuador, and Mexico in the form of powerful earthquakes and volcanoes, as summarized in
energy (E) in Planck-Einstein relation (E = hυ) with Planck constant (h) [
It is interesting to note that the earthquake magnitudes at epicenters consisted of Cretaceous granites were always greater than those of the nuclear test site at Punggae-ri in North Korea ; First test (M 3.9) while Kuril Islands in Russia (M 8.1), Sichuan in China (M 8.0), Pyeongchang in South Korea (M 4.8), Second test (M 4.5) while Yunnan in China (M 5.7) and Fukushima in Japan (M 9.1), Third test (M 4.9) while Kamchatka (M 8.3) and Vladivostok (M 6.3) in Russia, and Niigata in Japan (M 6.6), Fourth test (M 4.8) while Kaotsiung in Taiwan (China) (M 6.4), Kumamoto in Japan (M 7.0), Muisne in Ecuador (M 7.8), and Ulsan in South Korea (M 5.0), Fifth test (M 5.03) while Gyeongju in South Korea (M 5.8), Sixth test (M 5.7 ~ 6.4) while Oaxaca (M 8.1, M 7.2) and Puebla (M 7.1) in Mexico, Tafea in Vanuatu (M 6.4), and Iwate in Japan (M 6.1). Therefore, the
North Korean Nuclear Tests [ | Earthquake | Volcano | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | Russia | |||||||||
Sequence | Date | Yield (kt) | Magnitude (M) | Date | Location | Magnitude (M) | Date | Loation | Date | Location (Kamchatka) |
1 | 2006.10.09 | 0.2 - 2 | 3.9 | 2007.01.13 | Kuril Islands, Russia | 8.1 | 2008.02.21 | Anatahan, Mariana Islands | 2007/2008 | Bezymianny |
2008.07.12 | Mount Meakan, Hokkaido | |||||||||
2007.01.20 | Pyeongchang, South Korea | 4.8 | 2009.03.10 | Sakurajima, Kagoshima | 2008 | Koryaksky | ||||
2007.07.16 | Niigata, Japan | 6.6 | ||||||||
2008.05.12 | Sichuan, China | 7.9 | ||||||||
2 | 2009.05.25 | 2 - 5.4 | 4.5 | 2009.07.09 | Yunnan, China | 5.7 | 2009/ 2011 | Mount Aso, Kumamoto | 2009 /2010 /2012 | Bezymianny |
2009 2010 | Mount Meakan, Hokkaido | |||||||||
2010.04.14 | Yushu, China | 6.9 | 2011 /2012 /2013 | Sakurajima, Kagoshima | 2010.08 | Gorely | ||||
2011.04.11 | Fukushima, Japan | 9.1 | 2010 /2013 | Miyakejima, Honshu | 2011.02 | Kizimen | ||||
2011.03 | Karymsky | |||||||||
2012.11.27 | Tolbachik | |||||||||
3 | 2013.02.12 | 6 - 16 | 4.9 | 2013.03.03 | Yunnan, China | 5.5 | 2013.06.04 | Kikai Caldera, Ryukyu Islands | 2013.01.10 | Kizimen |
2013.07 | Sakurajima, Kagoshima | |||||||||
2014.09.27 | Mount Ontake, Honshu | |||||||||
2013.04.20 | Ya’an, China | 6.9 | 2014 /2015 | Nishinoshima, Tokyo | 2013.11.29 | Klyucheskaya Sopka | ||||
2013.05.24 | Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia | 8.3 | 2015 | Iwo Jima, Tokyo | 2014.01.26 | Gorely | ||||
2013.07.22 | Dingxi, China | 5.9 | 2015.05.22 | Mount Hakone, Kanagawa | ||||||
2014.05.24 | Yingjiang, China | 5.6 | 2015.06.19 | Kuchinoerabu ―jima, Kagoshima | ||||||
2015.08.16 | Sakurajima, Kagoshima | |||||||||
2014.08.03 | Ludian, China | 6.1 | 2015.08.31 | Mount Meaken, Hokkaido |
4 | 2016.01.06 | 7 - 10 | 4.8 | 2016.01.20 | Qinghai, Hongtu, Northern Qinghai | 5.9 | 2015 | Mount Aso, Kumamoto | 2016.02.02 | Karymsky |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016.02.06 | Tainan, Taiwan (China) | 6.4 | ||||||||
2016.03.17 | Western Sichuan, China | 4.8 | 2016.03.08 | |||||||
2016.04.16 | Kumamoto, Japan | 7.0 | ||||||||
Muisne, Ecuador | 7.8 | |||||||||
2016.04.19 | Gyang Kar, China | 4.4 | 2016.05.06 | Mount Niigata- Yakeyama, Honshu | 2016.04.24 | Klyuchevskaya Sopka | ||||
2016.06.25 | Southern Xinjiang, China | 4.2 | ||||||||
2016.07.05 | Ulsan, South Korea | 5.0 | 2016.07.26 | Sakurajima, Kagoshima | ||||||
2016.07.31 | Guang Xi, China | 5.0 | ||||||||
2016.08.13 | Yunnan, China | 4.7 | ||||||||
5 | 2016.09.09 | 20 - 30 | 5.04 | 2016.09.12 | Gyeongju, South Korea | 5.8 | 2016.10.08 | Mount Aso, Kumamoto | 2016.10.01 | Shiveluch |
2016.09.23 | Rulong, Sichuan, China | 5.3 | 2016.10.08 | Karymsky | ||||||
2016.10.06 | Kaotsiung, Taiwan (China) | 5.7 | ||||||||
2016.10.17 | Dartang, China | 5.9 | ||||||||
2016.10.17 | Southern Qinghai, China | 4.5 | 2017.03.31 | Suwanose jima, Ryukyu Islands | 2016.12.15 | Bezymianny | ||||
2016.10.19 | Hujizhen, China | 4.9 | 2017.03.08 | Kambalny | ||||||
2016.11.25 | Xinjiang Uygur, China | 6.5 | 2017.03.09 | Bezymianny | ||||||
2017.06.24 | Sichuan, China | Landslide | ||||||||
2017.06.25 | Niigata, Japan | 5.7 | ||||||||
2017.07.18 | Nikol’skoye, Russia | 7.8 |
6 | 2017.09.03 | 50 - 300 | 5.7 ~ 6.4 | 2017.09.09 | Oaxaca, Mexico | 8.1 | - | - | - | - |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017.09.19 | Puebla, Mexico | 7.1 | - | - | - | - | ||||
2017.09.20 | Los Angeles, USA | 3.6 | - | - | - | - | ||||
2017.09.20 | Taitung, Taiwan (China) | 5.7 | - | - | - | - | ||||
2017.09.21 | Iwate, Japan | 6.1 | - | - | - | - | ||||
Tafea, Vanuatu | 6.4 | - | - | - | - | |||||
Java Sea, Indonesia | 5.7 | - | - | - | - | |||||
2017.09.22 | Ferndale, California, USA | 5.7 | - | - | - | - | ||||
2018.02.16 | Oaxaca, Mexico | 7.2 | - | - | - | - |
constructive interference in resonance among the same material of cretaceous granite (Kgr) between the North Korean nuclear test site of Punggae-ri and individual epicenters might induce the enhanced frequency for higher earthquake magnitudes. Since the yield of the North Korean underground nuclear test was further increased from the fifth one of 20 ~ 30 kt to the sixth one of 50 to 300 kt with 120 kt [
It is most likely that the USA, particularly the states of Alaska, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana, and California, can be in danger due to earthquakes induced by North Korean underground nuclear tests. This is seen in the recent earthquake (M 5.7) in western Montana in July 06, 2017, M 3.6 at Los Angeles in September 19, and M 5.7 in Ferndale in California in September 22, 2017, 297 days after the fifth underground nuclear, and 16 and 19 days after the sixth test by North Korea, respectively. Therefore, it could be very dangerous since North Korea attempted the sixth nuclear test with yield of 50 - 300 kt impacting all over the surrounding counties including the USA and Mexico. Since North Korea conducted the sixth nuclear test close to the earthquake magnitude of 6.4 or yield of 120 kt [
Seismic energies caused by a hydrogen bomb explosion in the sixth North Korean nuclear test with yield of 50 to 300 kt, have been released and then channeled through in The Pacific Ring of Fire, compared to being narrowly channeled to the East Sea at Gyeongju of South Korea during the fifth test with yield of 20 to 30 kt. Initial explosive force after the sixth test might have been propagated from North Korea to Russian Kamchatka Peninsula reaching the Pacific Plate, which might have activated the tectonic boundary between the small and unstable Cocos Plate and North American Plate to induce extensive damage. More than 100 people died at Oaxaca in Mexico, 12,540 km away, 5 days after the sixth nuclear test. Furthermore, M 7.1 at Puebla in Mexico killed more than 370 people 16 days. In addition the M 7.2 earthquake occurred in Oaxaca 163 days after the same sixth nuclear test.
Since North Asian Russia, Japan, USA, and Mexico are located on multi tectonic plates (Russia-Kamchatka 3, Japan 6, USA 3, Mexico 3) and enormous volcanoes (Kamchatka 29, Japan 108, USA 65, Mexico 42), any minor stimulation of either Cretaceous or Jurassic granites by North Korean nuclear tests at the present Pungae-ri test site, might activate geothermal systems to cause deadly damage in China, Russia, Taiwan (China), Japan, South Korea, North Korea, The USA, Ecuador, and Mexico as shown in
The present study showed that the explosive powers of North Korean underground nuclear tests at Punggae-ri have coincidently impacted on earthquakes in China, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan (China), USA, Ecuador, Vanuatu, Indonesia, and Mexico. The number of earthquake events (≥M 2.0) in the Korean Peninsula tremendously increased from 15 in 1990 without the nuclear test to 633 in 2016 with the fifth nuclear test. Therefore, the underground nuclear tests by North Korea are dangerous to surrounding countries with deadly earthquakes. Geological instabilities in terrains of Cretaceous granite were triggered by North Korean nuclear tests to induce the enhanced seismic impacts in earthquakes in surrounding countries after lag times between the North Korean underground nuclear test site and individual epicenters ranging from 3 (Gyeongju, South Korea) and 5 (Oaxaca, Mexico) to 676 days (Fukushima, Japan). There was recently (02/16/18) an earthquake (M 7.2) in Oaxaca of Mexico whose terrain is also composed of Cretaceous granites. It is therefore urgent to prohibit North Korean nuclear tests for the regional stability of surrounding countries with Cretaceous granites.
Author expresses sincere gratitude to The University of Suwon and G-Land Company, South Korea, for providing the financial support during this study.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Kim, T.-J. (2018) Earthquakes in Cretaceous Granites Associated with North Korean Nuclear Tests. Open Journal of Earthquake Research, 7, 186-194. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojer.2018.73011