An experimental research from California Institute of Technology reveals that it is possible for an earthquake to rip the ground apart. Scientists have thought for so long that the Hollywood-style portrayal of earthquakes spawning cracks in the ground that swallows everything in its path is a myth. However, the Caltech experiment shows that a thrust fault earthquake scenario can open a crack that stays open for a short time before quickly closing up again.
There is a requirement for the ground to rip apart in the events of an earthquake - there has to be a thrust fault around. Thrust faults are weak portions of the earth's crust, Science Daily explained. When an earthquake happens, the rock slabs have the tendency to compress, snap, and slide up. Unfortunately, thrust faults are also known to be the sites of strongest earthquakes.
It is a popular notion that it is impossible for the ground to open when the origin of an earthquake is shallow because the plates will simply slide against each other. However, thrust faults proved to be a disastrous ingredient. A fast rupture that travels along the thrust faults can make the ground open up at least 4 meters wide before quickly snapping back to position.
Caltech used the catastrophic 2011 Tohoku earthquake off the coast of Japan as a model for the experiment. The simulation shows that the thrust fault slipped at shallow depth and resulted to a gaping 50 meters in some areas, according to Phys.org. The incident generated a tsunami that wiped off everything in its path, including the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Remember that the Tohoku earthquake happened offshore. However, the Caltech experiment was verified with subsequent simulations and every one of them has the same result. Further, thrust faults can twist the rock slabs apart from each other both in the sea and on land. The same conclusion showed even when the artificial rules of the fault opening were taken out of the equation.