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Paris - The December 26 quake that originated off Sumatra ripped a gash of at least 1 000km in the Indian Ocean's floor and displaced Earth's crust as far as southern China, a study published on Thursday says.
The data comes from Global Positioning System (GPS) stations that have been dotted across Southeast Asia in a network designed to monitor land movements caused by seismic activity.
Initial estimates were of a seabed rupture that spread northwards from a point just west of Sumatra, on a weakened fault some 450kms long.
But the latest paper confirms later calculations that the rupture was at least 1 000kms long, ending at a point just south of Myanmar, and that it proceeded at a dizzying speed rather than at a slow "aseismic" pace.
VISE
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