Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake in Ishkāshim Province, Afghanistan.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake at a depth of 209.1 km, roughly 45 km to the southwest of the city of  Ishkāshim, in the province of the same name in northeast Afghanistan, slightly after 8.45 am local time (slightly after 4.15 am GMT) on Friday 2 February 2022. Quakes at this depth are seldom dangerous, but are often felt over a wide area, and this one was reportedly felt in Kabul roughly 200 km to the southwest, as well as across a wide area of northern Pakistan.

 

The approximate location of the 2 February 2022 Ishkāshim Earthquake. USGS.

The boundary between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates runs close to northern Afghanistan. The Indian Plate is moving northward relative to the Eurasian Plate, causing folding and uplift along this boundary, which has led to the formation of the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan, the Himalayas and the other mountain ranges of Central Asia., and which makes the nations in this boundary zone prone to Earthquakes.

 

Plate boundaries and movements beneath southern Pakistan, Iran and the Arabian Sea. University of Southampton.

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