Lenin Peak disaster

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Coordinates: 36°22′19″N 70°44′17″E / 36.372°N 70.738°E / 36.372; 70.738
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1990 Hindu Kush earthquake
A memorial plaque near Lenin Peak commemorating the victims of the disaster
UTC time1990-07-13 14:20:43
ISC event362596
USGS-ANSSComCat
Local dateJuly 13, 1990 (1990-07-13)
Local time18:50:43 AFT
MagnitudeMw  6.4 [1]
Depth216.8 km
Epicenter36°22′19″N 70°44′17″E / 36.372°N 70.738°E / 36.372; 70.738
Max. intensityMMI IV (Light)[2]
Casualties43 dead, 2 injured[3]

The

USSR). The deadly avalanche was triggered by a moment magnitude scale 6.4 earthquake which struck at a depth of 216.8 km beneath the Hindu Kush mountains in neighbouring Afghanistan.[1]
The incident is believed to be the deadliest mountaineering disaster in history.

Background

The ongoing continental collision between the

strike-slip faulting
.

The earthquake on 13 July did not originate from within a shallow fault; rather it struck at a depth of 216.8 km beneath the surface; far too deep for a shallow crustal source. Where the earthquake occurred, is an "earthquake nest"; an area of high seismicity in a particularly small region. Large earthquakes with magnitudes of up to 7.5 have occurred in the same concentrated region with an average recurrence interval of 15 years. These earthquakes correspond to reverse faulting at a depth of 170 to 280 km.[4] These earthquakes rather than occurring at a plate boundary, are sourced from within the Indian Plate as it dives beneath the Hindu Kush. As the tectonic slab of the Indian Plate descends at a near-vertical angle into the mantle, it stretches and begins to "tear", eventually leading to a slab detachment.[5] This action results in stress accommodation along faults that produces earthquakes when ruptured.

Avalanche

At the time of the quake, 45

mountaineers were at Camp II, at an elevation of 5,300 meters on the Razdelnaya Route to summit the peak.[6] The team consisted of 23 members of the Leningrad Mountaineering Club, six from Czechoslovakia, four Israeli, two Swiss, and a Spaniard.[7] Many of the Soviet fatalities originated from Saint Petersburg
in Russia (then Leningrad).

The earthquake caused light shaking, assigned IV on the

Mercalli intensity scale,[3] but was significant enough to cause a block of serac to detach and tumble down Lenin Peak. The dislodged serac transformed into an avalanche that crashed onto the camp, killing 43 of the 45 climbers. The two survivors, Alexei Koren and Miroslav Brozman, suffered a broken arm and leg. According to them, some team members were still conscious after the avalanche buried them, but rescue attempts failed when the debris hardened into glacier ice.[8] Survivors and witnesses on the mountain did not report any shaking from the earthquake, presumably because the ice acted like a shock absorber.[8]

The disaster is the worst in the history of mountaineering, alongside the 2014 Nepal snowstorm disaster. The death toll from the incident surpassed that of another event in 1974. Only one body was recovered.[8] In 2008, the glacier ice began to melt, exposing human remains of the expedition.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^
    U.S. Geological Survey
    . Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  2. ^ International Seismological Centre. Event Bibliography. Thatcham, United Kingdom. [Event 362596].
  3. ^ a b "Significant Earthquake Information". ngdc.noaa.gov. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  4. ISBN 9780120188468
    .
  5. PMID 33727553
    .
  6. ^ a b "Worst mountaineering disaster". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Avalanche kills 40 climbers on Soviet Peak". Moscow, Russia. The Washington Post. 17 July 1990. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Slade, Rob (7 August 2015). "Tragedies on the Mountain: Lenin Peak 1990". Wired for Adventure. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
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