Earthquake-prone areas in Europe
If you plan to travel in Europe, you probably don't worry about what might happen if an earthquake occurs at first. After all, Europe is not a classic earthquake-prone region, but there are also areas here that can be affected by earthquakes.
1. The earthquake-prone Cologne Bay
The Cologne Bay is one of the largest earthquake-prone areas in Europe. The meeting of two continental plates is responsible for this. Here the African plate meets the Eurasian plate and transmits the compressive stress to weak areas, such as the Rhine here. The earthquake-prone area stretches from Basel along the Rhine to Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Most of the earthquakes occurring here are quite weak, but the Cologne Bay is sinking more and more as a result.
2. The areas of the Vienna Basin
The Vienna Basin describes the areas of the Alps that border the Carpathian Mountains and the Pannonian Plain in Austria. Due to the deep gradient over several hundred meters in altitude within the spindle-shaped basin, smaller earthquakes occur time and again. Otherwise there are many medicinal and mineral springs around these areas.
3. The island of Iceland
The Icelandic islands not only have many active volcanoes, but are also located on two continental plates within Europe. The North American and Eurasian plates, which move further and further away from each other every year, causing earthquakes on the island again and again.
4. Italy - Europe's shoe-shaped peninsula
Almost all of Italy is in earthquake-prone areas. In 1908 an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 struck here. Since then there have been repeated earthquakes in Italy, killing several thousand people. Besides the earthquakes, Italy is also home to some of the most active volcanoes in Europe.
5. The Peloponnese peninsula
In the south of mainland Greece is the Peloponnese peninsula, which protrudes furthest into the Mediterranean of all parts of the Balkan peninsula. This part was once completely located in the Mediterranean, but the shifting of the plates, which also cause the earthquakes there, pushed these areas closer and closer to the mainland.
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