(News.com.au) A tear in the sea floor seven kilometres deep just north of Australia could cause disastrous earthquakes and tsunamis.
The tear in the Earth’s crust is located in the Banda Sea and measures about 60,000sq km — roughly the size of Tasmania.
Geologists have now discovered the tear is one of the biggest faults on the planet and is running through the Ring of Fire, an area in the Pacific Ocean where a huge number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
According to the United States Geological Survey, 90 per cent of the world’s earthquakes and 81 per cent of the world’s worst earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.
The Ring extends from New Zealand, around the top of Australia and past Indonesia. It curls around past Japan and down the West Coast of the United States before ending at the bottom of South America.
