Is Wenchuan earthquake a reservoir earthquake?

Wenchuan earthquake can't be caused by the Three Gorges Dam.

Sichuan Earthquake and Three Gorges Dam

The debate about the Three Gorges has never stopped.

Supporters believe that the Three Gorges Project can solve the energy problem of economic development in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, control the flood peak in the Yangtze River basin and be conducive to flood control.

Opponents believe that the Three Gorges Project is actually short-sighted and will bring great disasters to the Yangtze River basin in the future:

1, ecological disaster: due to dam barrier, many migratory fish in the Yangtze River will face extinction, and hydrological changes will also have a great impact on aquatic organisms in the region. As the upstream flow of the dam stagnates and the downstream flow slows down, the self-static capacity of the Yangtze River decreases and the water quality deteriorates. Sediment deposition and garbage floating objects in the reservoir area above the dam will become more and more serious, which will lead to serious consequences, vegetation on both sides of the river will be flooded after water storage, and so on, and the ecology in the region will be greatly damaged.

2. Geological disasters: As the dam completely blocks the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the reservoir capacity ranks first in the world, and the resulting huge pressure will have an impact on the geological structure of this area. It is internationally recognized that the earthquake caused by the dam. In fact, after the impoundment of the Three Gorges, the number of earthquakes in its area has increased significantly compared with previous years, and people have been worried that the Three Gorges will trigger a major earthquake! In addition, after the impoundment of the Three Gorges, many hillsides on both sides of the river are submerged in water, and after a period of time, landslides will be very serious. At present, the landslide problem in the Three Gorges reservoir area is becoming more and more serious, and its influence on ecology, waterway safety and the future of the reservoir itself is worrying. The geological structure of the Three Gorges area is very complicated, which is actually not suitable for building super dams.

3. Strategic hidden danger: The reservoir dam is one of the main targets in modern military confrontation, which is well known to all. Even in ancient wars, there were many examples of building dams, releasing water from dams and flooding the enemy. Qian Weichang, a physicist and vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, published an article entitled "Enlightenment from the Gulf War". This paper discusses the relationship between the Gulf War and the civil air defense safety in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. In his article, Mr. Qian Weichang pointed out that the dam failure of the Three Gorges Reservoir will make six provinces and cities in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River become Zeguo, and hundreds of millions of people will be in desperate situation. At the same time, it is pointed out that the Three Gorges Dam will become the target threatened by external enemies. Facing the present missile technology, the defense of the Three Gorges Dam is impossible. Once the Three Gorges Dam is completed, Chinese mainland's economic center of gravity and military strategic mobility will be placed under the sword of Damocles. His conclusion is: "We must not spend hundreds of billions of RMB to build the world's largest dam, which will increase the burden on our children and grandchildren and become a bargaining chip for external enemies to blackmail.

Cultural disaster: how many ancient towns have been flooded by the Three Gorges, how many historical sites and cultural relics have been buried, and how many people have left their homes. The impact on local society and culture can be described as destruction.

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The controversial China Century Water Conservancy Project, the Three Gorges Dam with a storage capacity of 39.3 billion cubic meters, is heavy enough to trigger a small earthquake and even slightly distort the earth's axis.

Discovery Channel recently reported that the Three Gorges Dam, which has been regarded as a "century gamble" by the outside world, is expected to start construction in 2009, with a total length of 2,309 meters. It is the second man-made project visible to the naked eye from space after the Great Wall. After the project is completed, the whole reservoir will be like an inland sea in China. Experts predict that the dam will crush the earth's crust because of its amazing weight. As long as it increases a little every day, it may cause an earthquake. The earthquake caused by crustal compression and orogeny millions of years ago may happen again at any time.

Reservoirs are prone to collapse across faults.

At the same time, the reservoir area straddles the fault, and the dam foundation is not necessarily as stable as expected. If the dam collapses and the huge waves flow down the Yangtze River, it is estimated that millions of people will be killed along the coast, and it is more likely that China's economy will be in a long-term downturn.

Does the Three Gorges Dam have anything to do with the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan?

International experts made it clear that the Wenchuan earthquake could not have been triggered by the Three Gorges Dam. There are indeed records of earthquakes induced by human activities in the world. For example, injecting water into deep wells, building large reservoirs and testing nuclear bombs will all induce small earthquakes nearby. But it is impossible to cause a big earthquake. Compared with the crustal movement, human activities are too small.

Thomas Parsons, a geographer of the US Geological Survey, commented: "There is evidence that the huge water pressure on the surface may cause a small earthquake, but it is impossible to cause a big earthquake. So as far as the Sichuan earthquake is concerned, the Three Gorges Dam may cause a small earthquake, but it has nothing to do with the big earthquake. A major earthquake has already happened. "

Professor Shao Cheng, a Canadian geophysicist, said in an interview: "These statements have no scientific basis. This earthquake has nothing to do with human factors and environmental factors. It is the inevitable result of a series of orogenic movements caused by the northward drift of the Indian continental plate and the collision and extrusion with the Eurasian continental plate. Let me describe it this way. The Indian mainland is like a giant bulldozer, pushing hard to the north and pushing up the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. When the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reaches a certain height, it can't be pushed any further, and the material in its lower crust is pushed eastward, touching the hard crust of Sichuan Basin, forming the northeast Longmen Mountain. The Longmenshan fault zone at the junction of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Sichuan Basin is destined to be a high-incidence area for earthquakes. All the factors of man-made destruction and environmental change add up, and the energy generated by this orogeny is beyond reach. The energy released by the Wenchuan earthquake of magnitude 7.9 is equivalent to four or five hundred atomic bombs exploding at the same time, and a large rupture with a depth of 10 to 12 km and a length of 300 km is formed in the crustal rocks within one minute. Reservoir impoundment and underground nuclear explosion can induce earthquakes below magnitude 3 at most, and the energy generated by an earthquake of magnitude 8 is more than10 million times that of an earthquake of magnitude 3. "

On June 65438+February 19, 2003, at 20: 031minute, an earthquake with an intensity of about 2.5 occurred in Mazongshan village on the west bank of Badong creek, 80 kilometers west of the dam. Three days later, a natural gas blowout occurred in Kaixian county, which is more than 300 kilometers west of the dam, killing 244 people. It's only a few tens of kilometers from the Yangtze River. )

On March 26, 2006, another blowout occurred in Kaixian County, with a flame as high as 100 meters, which was subdued by several Japanese troops. (The straight line is dozens of kilometers away from the Yangtze River. ) 65438+20061From 27: 52 on October 29th to noon on October 28th, there were 50 aftershocks in Sanligang Town, Suizhou City, of which the aftershock was 4.2, and the epicenter felt strongly. Previously, there was a magnitude 3 earthquake in Sanligang.

An academic view holds that the Three Gorges Reservoir triggered the biggest earthquake since it was built. But what about this earthquake? I hope it has nothing to do with the Three Gorges! Will man conquer nature or destroy himself?