Tectonic weapon
A tectonic weapon is a hypothetical device or system which could trigger
Concept
Theoretically, the tectonic weapon functions by creating a powerful charge of elastic energy in the form of deformed volume of the Earth's crust in a region of tectonic activity.[2] This then becomes an earthquake once triggered by a nuclear explosion in the epicenter or a vast electric pulse.[2] As to the question of whether a nuclear explosion can trigger an earthquake, there was the analysis of local seismic recordings within a couple of miles of nuclear tests in the 1960s at Nevada that showed nuclear explosions caused some tectonic stress.[3] The 1968 Faultless underground nuclear test caused faults to slip up to 40 km away.[4] The United States Geological Survey stated that it produced fresh fault rupture some 1,200 meters long.[3] There is also a theory that a 1998 earthquake in Afghanistan was triggered by thermonuclear tests conducted in Indian and Pakistani test sites 2-20 days prior.[3][5]
Reports
Roger Clark, lecturer in
Such weapons, whether or not they exist or are feasible, are a source of concern in official circles. For example, US Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, said on 28 April 1997 at the Conference on Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and U.S. Strategy, University of Georgia, while discussing the dangers of false threats, "Others are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves."[7]
New Zealand's unsuccessful Project Seal programme during World War II attempted to create a tsunami bomb, generating tsunami waves as a weapon. It was reported in 1999 that such a weapon might be viable.[8]
Nikola Tesla claimed a small (something "you could put in your overcoat pocket") steam-powered mechanical oscillator he was experimenting with in 1898 produced earthquake-like effects, but this has never been replicated. The television show MythBusters in 2006 Episode 60 – "Earthquake Machine" made a small machine using a specially designed computer-controlled electromagnetic linear actuator instead of steam; it produced vibrations in a large structure detectable hundreds of feet away, but no significant shaking. Their judgement was that the test with their version of the oscillator busted the myth.[9]
International treaties
The 1978
Conspiracy theories
After natural tectonic phenomena such as the
"Earthquake bombs"
While the British Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs of World War II were called earthquake bombs, the name came from their way of destroying very hardened targets by shaking their foundations as an earthquake would; they were never intended to cause an actual earthquake.
See also
- Red mercury
- HAARP
- Weather warfare
References
- ^ 927N0104A Moscow ZNANIYE-Sila (in Russian) No. 1, Jan 92 p2-13, translated in JPRS Report on Science and Technology, October 1992
- ^ ISBN 9781848267596.
- ^ a b c "Can nuclear explosions cause earthquakes?". www.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
- .
- ISBN 9780815386391.
- ^ R Clark, Nature, 10 October 1996, quoted in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Jan 1997, In Brief section
- ^ Federation of American Scientists: Address by US Secretary of State at 1997 conference on terrorism
- ^ Bingham, Eugene (28 September 1999). "Devastating tsunami bomb viable, say experts". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "MythBusters Episode 60: Earthquake Machine". MythBusters Results. 30 August 2006.
- ^ "Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD)". United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Retrieved 17 September 2023. Page links to text of Convention, which entered into force 5 October 1978.
- ^ LiveScience: Chavez: US 'Tectonic Weapon' Caused Haiti Quake, 29 January 2010
- ^ Komsomolskaya Pravda, 30 May 1992, p1, translated in JPRS Report on Science and Technology, 10 June 1992
- ^ Soica, Mihai (February 9, 2023). "Teoria conspirației de la tribuna Senatului României. Șoșoacă susține că Turcia a fost atacată "cu arme geologice"". Evenimentul Zilei (in Romanian). Retrieved October 15, 2023.