Scientists are deliberately triggering earthquakes from a tunnel deep beneath the Alps. Although it may sound like something out of a James Bond movie, the goal isn't turmoil and destruction. Rather, researchers with the Fault Activation and Earthquake Rupture (FEAR) project are looking for ways to determine the danger of an earthquake before it strikes.
Despite an increasing amount of monitoring on fault lines worldwide, researchers still don't understand the immediate triggers of earthquakes. Nor do they know why some ruptures happen on short segments of fault lines while others run for many miles, causing greater destruction. Right now, geoscientists are limited to studying these events only after they happen, Domenico Giardini, professor of seismology and geodynamics at ETH Zürich, told Live Science.
