Today, around the 13:24 (local time), A magnitude earthquake 4.8 hit the Portugal, at the Municipality of Seixal, about 20 kilometers from the capital Lisbon. The earthquake recorded an epicenter on the mainland to one depth of 10 km: It is therefore a rather superficial earthquake and for this reason it has been felt in a rather clear way by the inhabitants of the area, even if there are no particular damage and/or injured.
The area affected by the shock is historically seismic, As the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 sadly reminds us: on that occasion an earthquake of magnitude 8.5 (esteemed) and the consequent tsunami caused 60 thousand victimsin addition to the almost total destruction of the city.
From a geological point of view, the causes are to be found in a complex fault system on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. According to some recent studies, so strong earthquakes would be compatible with the presence of compression forces inside the lithosphere. Specifically, it is assumed that a portion of the Atlantic Ocean crust is preparing to sink under the Iberian peninsula, giving life to a fault system parallel to the Portuguese coast.
If this is true to the macroscala, at the moment we still do not have enough information to confirm that a similar mechanism is involved in today’s earthquake.
