The historical mining in the East Rand is being investigated as a possible cause of the recent quake. The KwaZulu-Natal region has much seismic activity because of tectonic plates, which are the outer layers of the earth’s crust broken into large pieces.
in 2019 that “some of South Africa’s gold and platinum mines are so deep that the great stresses around excavations exceed the strength of the rock, which may rupture suddenly”.He also said rock bursts pose a risk to mineworkers and nearby communities. These can happen anywhere where mining is deep enough.
The Council for Geoscience believes Gauteng is more stable in terms of its tectonic activity than KwaZulu-Natal or even Cape Town but this is not cast in stone. Last weekend’s earthquake could have been the result of tectonic activity elsewhere which resulted in pressure releasing in Gauteng. It could also be that the historic mining in the area led to a change in earth pressures or even that the tremor was caused by fluctuating water levels.
A crucial finding noted in the paper was that statistical analysis showed there were greater chances of damaging seismic events in areas where there had been gold mining. These types of seismic events become more probable as mining continues to happen and need to be monitored, the study said.
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