Shafaq News- Baghdad/ Kirkuk

A series of 20 earthquakes recorded in and around Iraq's northern Kirkuk province over the past four days is linked to the active Zagros collision zone, where the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates continue to converge, a seismologist told Shafaq News on Sunday.

The General Authority for Meteorology and Seismic Monitoring said the earthquakes, recorded between July 30 and Aug. 2, ranged from weak to moderate intensity. Eleven measured between magnitude 3.0 and 3.9, seven ranged from 2.0 to 2.9, and two measured between 1.0 and 1.9.

Most of the epicentres were concentrated east and northeast of Kirkuk toward Chamchamal and areas bordering Al-Sulaymaniyah, with limited activity south of the province.

Seismologist Ali Ramthan said the tremors originated within the Kirkuk Embayment, the western foreland of the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt, where reverse faults generated by the ongoing collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates periodically release accumulated tectonic stress.

"The sequence of magnitudes —4.3, followed by 4.1 and 4.0— suggests that part of the accumulated stress has already been released," Ramthan said. However, he cautioned that the decline in magnitude does not necessarily signal the end of the seismic sequence, as aftershocks and smaller tremors may continue while the fault system adjusts.