Turkey quake causes 300-km-long fissure

Researchers have found a 300km rupture caused by two powerful earthquakes near the Turkish-Syrian border.

Scientists from UK's Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) discovered the ruptures on February 6 by comparing images taken by the European Earth-observing satellite Sentinel-1 before and after the devastating earthquakes.

The longer of the two ruptures stretches 300 kilometres (190 miles) northeast from the Mediterranean Sea's northeastern tip, reports NDTV.

According to a tweet from COMET on Friday, the second crack, measuring 125 kilometers (80 miles) long, opened during the second earthquake, almost nine hours after the first earthquake.

The striking lengths of these two fissures is evidence of the large quantity of energy that the earthquakes released.

Tim Wright, who leads the COMET team told Space.com, "The bigger the earthquake, the bigger the fault and the more it slips. This earthquake fault is one of the longest on record on the continents. Also, very unusual to have two such large earthquakes happening within a few hours of each other."

Many people took to Twitter to confirm the surface cracks which were also seen from space.

The data was collected early on Friday morning by the Sentinel-1 satellite as it travelled north to south over Turkey at a height of 700 kilometers (435 miles). The satellite can detect the ground at any time of day or night and frequently scans the areas of the planet that is prone to earthquakes.