Mild tremors of 3.2 magnitude recorded at Chengalpattu district

Mild tremor of 3.2 magnitude recorded in Chengalpattu district on Dec 8. Tremors may be due to heavy rainfall post-monsoon. Cavities in upper layers of earth's crust collapse when water percolates at 5 km. Tremors may occur up to two-three months after monsoon. Severe cyclonic storm Michaung had dumped heavy rainfall earlier this week.

A mild tremor, of 3.2 magnitude, was recorded in Chengalpattu district on the morning of Friday, December 8, 2023, according to the National Centre for Seismology, a nodal agency of the Union government that monitors earthquakes.

The tremors were recorded at 7.39 a.m. at a depth of 10 km in Chengalpattu. The Centre had also recorded tremors of a similar magnitude in Vijayapura, Karnataka at a depth of 10 km on Thursday (December 7) morning.

Meteorologists in Chennai termed the tremors as mild. The seismic unit of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, transmitted data to the National Centre for Seismology.

Officials of the National Centre for Seismology, New Delhi, said such tremors can sometimes occur after a heavy rainfall period, post monsoon. Cavities in the upper layers of the earth’s crust collapse, when a heavy volume of water percolates at a depth of about 5 km. This might be one of the reasons for mild tremors recorded on Friday morning in Chengalpattu district. Such events may occur even up to two or three months after a monsoon period, they said.

It may be recalled that severe cyclonic storm Michaung had dumped heavy rainfall over the north coastal region earlier this week, flooding Chennai and its peripheral areas.