Tremors jolted Sonitpur district, as an earthquake of 3.9 magnitude struck Tezpur on Saturday morning. This is the third earthquake that has hit the Sonitpur district in a week and the fourth in Central Assam.
According to the data published by the National Center For Seismology, tremors of 16km depth were felt at 8.33 am 41km WNW of Tezpur.
No damages were reported.
The epicentre of these tremors are primarily centered around Tezpur.
Meanwhile, an earthquake of magnitude 3.1 jolted Assam's Tezpur late Tuesday night. According to NCS, tremors were felt at 12:27 am late Tuesday night. The epicentre of the earthquake is said to be 43km West of Tezpur in Sonitpur district.
On May 10, an earthquake of magnitude 3.7 hit Sonitpur district at around 12:11 am. The following morning, another earthquake of magnitude 3.0 hit Nagaon at 7 am.
Such minor earthquakes have started to create panic among the residents of the state especially in the district of Sonitpur.
Recently, on April 28, a powerful earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter Scale jolted Assam. Nearly 12 aftershocks were recorded in the hours after the first quake shook up the region.
The earthquake originated in Tezpur in Assam and tremors were felt even in North Bengal and other parts of the Northeast.
"The preliminary analysis shows that the events are located near to Kopili Fault closer to Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT). The area is seismically very active falling in the highest Seismic Hazard zone V associated with collisional tectonics where Indian plate sub-ducts beneath the Eurasian Plate," an NCS report said about the earthquake.
"HFT, also known as the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT), is a geological fault along the boundary of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Kopili Fault is a 300-km northwest-southeast trending fault from the Bhutan Himalaya to the Burmese arc," an IE report stated.
