North Korean Nuclear Test Moved Earth's Crust

Two minor tremors detected in northwest North Korea Saturday are likely linked to the very thing dominating recent headlines: the country’s nuclear program. 

Per the Guardian, the aftershocks recorded Saturday near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site were likely “relaxation events” from North Korea’s large scale nuclear test in early September.

 “When you have a large nuclear test, it moves the Earth’s crust around the area, and it takes a while for it to fully subside,” a US Geological Survey official says. ”We’ve had a few of them since the sixth nuclear test.“ Lassina Zerbo of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization described the 2.9 and 2.4 magnitude aftershocks as "unprecedented for [the] region” and of “tectonic origin.”

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