North Korea's nuclear testing may have triggered hundreds of earthquakes over several years
Between 2006 and 2017, North Korea conducted six underground nuclear tests at its vast testing site at Mount Mantap in North Hamgyong province. Typically, underground explosions trigger an intense burst of minor earthquakes that die down once testing stops. But geologists have detected far more seismic activity after the final detonation, and it has persisted for years.
A new study published in the journal Science has revealed that North Korea's six underground nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017 may have triggered hundreds of earthquakes over several years in the region surrounding Mount Mantap. Despite the initial assumption that such seismic activity would decrease following the tests, researchers detected a steady increase in seismicity that persisted until 2025.
Using seismic wave data and advanced pattern-matching techniques, the international team of scientists discovered 1,399 small local earthquakes near Mount Mantap, including 955 that were never previously mapped. The study suggests that the nuclear explosions damaged the crust around pre-existing faults and potentially undiscovered faults, which then shifted and slid years after the blasts ended.
This phenomenon demonstrates that underground nuclear explosions can have long-lasting crustal effects in a stressed geological environment.
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