Greek scientist counters Turkish geologist's claim that "Greece and Turkey are moving closer together"

The statement by Turkish geologist engineer Burhan Das, president of the Chamber of Geological Engineers of Elazig in eastern Turkey that "Every year Turkey and Greece are moving closer by 30 cm" was countered by the president of the Hellenic Geological Society Dr. Athanasios Gana.

"Based on satellite geodetic data derived from GNSS measurements of geodetic reference stations, it appears that the average annual distance between Greece and Turkey increases by 12 millimeters, as shown by the combined resolution of all Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East-Africa GNSS stations (study by Reilinger et al. 2006, Journal of Geophysical Research, 1133 citations in the science citation index)," Dr. Gana told Proto Thema.

A more recent study by Briole, Ganas, Elias, Dimitrov, (2021, Geophysical Journal International) based on resolutions of 329 GNSS stations confirmed the increasing plate speed from Anatolia (Anatolia-Asia Minor) to Dysmas (central and southern Greece) considering the central- northern Europe as constant, so yes the movement of Anatolia is to the west, but the movement of the Aegean plate is towards the southwest at a higher speed, i.e. the relative average distance increases steadily by 1.5 (one and a half) centimeters per year."

Let us recall that the Turkish geologist stated in his country's newspaper that in the last ten months there have been 17,000 small and large earthquakes in Turkey and that due to the mobility of the Arabian plate, the Anatolian plate, where Turkey country belongs, is constantly being compressed by shifting 20 to 30 cm to the west and towards Greece.

"After hundreds of thousands of years, Smyrna, Mugla and our provinces in this area will be land neighbours with Greece, while the size of the islands in the Aegean will change, but new islands will also emerge," he said.

The president of the Chamber of Geological Engineers of Elazig estimated that there will be an earthquake in part of the Celihan fault that will reach up to 7.2 degrees Richter and will affect areas of eastern Turkey.

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