Sumatra quakes cause Singapore land to sink

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A team led by Nanyang Technological University found that the 2004 9.2-magnitude Sumatra earthquake and other major tremors set off slow underground mantle flow that made land across the Sumatran backarc, including parts of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, sink by millimetres per year. The researchers analysed up to two decades of GNSS station data and compared observations with earth-layer models, concluding that a weak upper mantle explains ongoing subsidence. The cumulative sinking is on the centimetre scale and the study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, says these effects should be added to regional sea-level projections and coastal planning.

Earthquake-induced land sinking adds centimeters to regional sea-level rise