Earthquake Summary Poster

Poster of the Respublika Altay, Russian Federation Earthquake of 27 September 2003 - Magnitude 7.3

The posters may be downloaded for viewing or for printing on a color plotter. Adobe PDF (.pdf) format files are provided. Adobe Acrobat 6.0 or higher is required for viewing the PDF file on a computer monitor and for printing the PDF map graphic. IMPORTANT: The PDF map graphic was produced using TrueType fonts; change the following setting to:
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DISCUSSION

This earthquake resulted from stresses originating with the collision of the Indian plate against the Eurasian plate. The collision of the two major plates has generated the Hima- layan mountains, far to the south of the epicenter of this earthquake, and produces deformation of the earth's crust over a broad region of central and eastern Asia. In the epicentral region of southern Russia, north-western China, eastern Kazakhstan, and western Mongolia, earthquakes of past decades have been caused by strike-slip faulting (as with this earthquake) and reverse faulting.

This earthquake is the largest in this region since an earthquake on December 20, 1761 that is thought to have had a magnitude of about 7.7