New 3D mapping techniques used on earthquake modelling

New techniques of Geology are being used to model the movements of the Earth's cortex. These new technologies allow too know with lots of detail how the Earth moved and wrinkled on these earthquakes by comparing after-before 3D maps of damaged zones.

The first earthquake in which these techniques have been used is the 7.2 in Richter's scale in Mexicale (Northern Mexico) in 2010.
 
These techniques consist on a laser analysis which take measures of the terrain with great precision of the Earth's fault.

The system used a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) which flew over the affected terrain and afterwards compared its measures with previous registries.

This new technique is just another example of the increasing importance of 3D mapping on the studies of the Earh's surface.

Read this article in Spanish