Earthquake in Malaga: which areas of Spain are most prone to earthquakes?

This morning the earthquake was felt in Malaga, Granada and Melilla. Although several people were awakened by the noise, there was no damage. This is because the epicenter was actually 19 kilometers deep, full Alboran Sea. Despite the fact that from magnitude 4.2, enough to frighten those who felt it, it was too deep and far from populated areas. In addition, in these populated areas they are quite accustomed to earthquakes, since they are among the regions where they are most likely to occur.

Provinces bordering the Alboran Sea, including Almeria, Granada, Malaga, Cadiz, Ceuta and Melillaas well as some from eastern Spain, especially Murcia and Alicante, are most accustomed to earthquakes. Also near the Pyrenees and in Galicia earthquakes are more likely.

The Malaga earthquake was just a small example of what can happen in these places. The upside is that, with the exception of the 2011 Lorca earthquake in Murcia, these are usually not very large earthquakes due to the size of the faults, but let’s look at what this all means.

Causes of the Malaga earthquake and others like it

According to the National Geographic Institute of Spain, an earthquake is a sudden release of energy stored in the earth’s crust in the form of waves traveling in all directions. This cortex is made up of plates called lithospheric plates. This can be compared to a kind of puzzle where the pieces are plates. Sometimes they meet edge to edge, colliding and building tension, and sometimes they move towards each other. All of these stresses typically cause earthquakes, so they are more common in geographic areas where one plate meets another.

The Malaga earthquake occurred in the center of the Alboran Sea. Earthquakes are very common in this area as there is a micro plate named after the sea that is in contact with Iberian microplate and African plate.

These tremors are also the causes of earthquakes in Granada, Cadiz, Almeria, Murcia and Alicante. On the other hand, in Pyrenees Plate collisions also occur, so earthquakes are not unusual here.

Size matters

In general, earthquakes usually occur in areas where two or more lithospheric plates. But more specifically, they occur as a result of so-called failures. These are cracks in the ground where two blocks have slipped, creating friction between them.

The larger the size of the faults, the more likely it is that a large earthquake will occur. In Spain there are failures on the above points. However, earthquakes can also occur in Galicia due to the influence Azoresbelonging to Portugal.

The world’s strongest earthquakes usually occur in places with huge faults. This is the case, for example, with San Andreas Fault, a crack more than 1,300 kilometers long, located in the United States. In Japan, where large-magnitude earthquakes are also common, there are Honshu faultslocated on the border of the Eurasian and Okhotsk plates.

The Spanish disadvantages are not that great. Even so, if the earthquake occurs very shallowly, earthquakes like the Lorca earthquake can occur. It’s not the most common, so it usually ends in a bit of a scare, as happened this evening with the earthquake in Malaga.