Based on reports reaching Calcutta on August 19, geologists think that the earthquake in Assam on August 15, was of a tectonic nature and had nothing to do with volcanic activity.
The earthquake which affected Assam in 1897 had been described as remarkable from the vast extent of the distortions of the earth's crust.
The movement of the 1897 Assam `quake was vertical and such is likely to be the case this time too.
The magnitude and intensity of an earthquake is determined by the use of scales, e.g., the Richter scale and the Mercalli scale.
The immediate cause of most shallow earthquakes is the sudden release of stress along a fault, or fracture in the earth’s crust, resulting in movement of the opposing blocks of rock past one another.
The extent of earthquake vibration and subsequent damage to a region is partly dependent on characteristics of the ground.
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