Even though Singapore does not experience earthquakes often, recently the power company SP Group accidentally discovered two ancient faults inside the ground, while digging up a tunnel for an electricity supply project in the city-state. The faults were found in Yishun and Jurong.
Geologists have confirmed that the fault lines were created 200 million years ago and will not cause any danger to the region in the present.
The ancient fault lines were discovered by the firm between 50 to 70 meters underground, while they were excavating a $2.4 billion tunnel for 1,200km of extra-high-voltage cables.
This finding has led to the speculation that perhaps the south-east Asian country was formed because of and along these fault lines. The SP Group geologists believe that this incident indicates that millions of years ago the country was covered by earth and rock.
However, the company is not required to change the route of the tunnels because of these ancient faults. Instead, they have been asked to proceed with their work more carefully.
After studying the fault lines, geologists have mentioned that the rock in which the faults were found, known as "metatuff", is about 200 to 250 million years old and could have been formed through a huge volcanic cloud.
The discovered faults might open a new avenue for geologists to know more mysteries related to the creation of the region in initial days. It might also help the researchers to unveil facts related to groundwater.
Since Singapore is the neighbor of earthquake and volcanic eruption prone regions like the Philippines and Indonesia, this discovery will also help scientists to know the historical aspect of the region and the possibility of tectonic movements there in the future.
