The 2022 Hormozgan earthquakes were a pair of

doublet earthquake __NOTOC__ In seismology, doublet earthquakes – and more generally, multiplet earthquakes – were originally identified as multiple earthquakes with nearly identical waveforms originating from the same location. They are now characterized as sing ...

s that struck southern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

on 1 July, 2022. The earthquakes, which occurred around two hours apart, killed seven people and injured dozens more.

Tectonic setting

Hormozgan province lies at the southern margin of the

collision zone A collision zone occurs when tectonic plates meet at a convergent boundary both bearing continental lithosphere. As continental lithosphere is usually not subducted due to its relative low density, the result is a complex area of orogeny involving ...

between the

Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

and the

Arabian Plate The Arabian Plate is a minor tectonic plate in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres. It is one of the three continental plates (along with the African and the Indian Plates) that have been moving northward in geological history and collidin ...

. This collision lead to the creation of the

Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوه‌های زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgro ...

and the Iranian Plateau. The main fault system that runs through the Zagros Range is the

Zagros fold and thrust belt The Zagros fold and thrust belt (Zagros FTB) is an approximately long zone of deformed crustal rocks, formed in the foreland of the collision between the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is host to one of the world's largest petroleum pr ...

, which has been responsible for causing many earthquakes in Iran over the years.

Earthquake

This earthquake is part of a sequence of earthquakes on 1 July, 2022, in southern Iran that began with a magnitude 6.0, followed by a magnitude 5.7 aftershock two hours later, and a magnitude 6.0 earthquake one minute after the magnitude 5.7 earthquake. The first two events were initially reported as 6.1 magnitude, while the third was an initial 6.2. They were revised down several hours later. Earthquake sequences similar to this one have previously occurred in the Zagros Mountains, with a similar sequence occurring in November 2021.

Aftershocks

By 3 July, there were twelve aftershocks, the strongest of which was 5.7 . On July 23, two more aftershocks occurred, measuring 5.4 and 5.6 . The two quakes caused further damage to houses, and caused one indirect injury.

Intensity

The earthquakes had a maximum intensity of VII (''Very strong''). The strongest shaking was reported in the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

of Hormozgan and Fars. The earthquake was felt throughout the Middle East in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, as well as parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which were severely affected by a more deadly earthquake 10 days earlier.

Other events

Two offshore earthquakes occurred in the same province near the town of Kish a month before the July events. The earthquakes measured 5.5 and 5.6 on the moment magnitude scale, and occurred at a depth of 10.0 km. The first earthquake injured four and damaged 20 buildings. The latter caused one death and 37 injuries. Another earthquake, measuring magnitude 5.9 struck the same area on March 16 of that same year. It caused two injuries and minor damage in several villages.

Impact

Twelve towns and over 300 villages, with a combined population of around 900,000, were impacted by the earthquakes. The village of Sayeh Khvosh, home to around 1,100 people, was completely destroyed. The governor of Hormozgan, Mahdi Dousti, said that it would take several months to rebuild the village. In Bandar Khamir, at least 45 houses were affected, and 35 others were damaged in the town of Kong. In total, at least 392 houses were damaged or destroyed. There were also reports of power outages. A road between Bandar Khamir and Bandar Lengeh was blocked by a landslide. Seven people were killed and 111 others were injured. At least 22 of the injuries were serious enough to require hospitalisation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hormozgan earthquakes, 2022 2022 earthquakes Earthquakes in Iran 2022 in Iran 2022 disasters in Iran Doublet earthquakes

2022 earthquakes {{Infobox earthquakes in year, year=2022, 4.0–4.9=13,707, 5.0–5.9=1,603, 6.0–6.9=117, 7.0–7.9=11, 8.0–8.9=0, 9.0+=0, strongest={{nowrap, 7.6 Moment magnitude scale, Mw {{flag, Papua New Guinea7.6 {{M, w, link=y {{Flag, Mexico , deadliest ...

July 2022 events in Iran