Chinese and American researchers have been cooperating in studying the cause of frequent strong earthquakes in southwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The researchers hope to find ways to efficiently monitor and forecast future earthquakes in the region, said sources from Xinjiang Seismological Bureau.

Researchers from the bureau, the State Seismological Bureau and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of the United States have launched a cooperative research project on the global dynamics of areas south of the Tianshan Mountains.

Chinese seismologists used software for digital treatment and computerized analysis to study and create a model showing how earthquakes were formed, said the sources.

The researchers have installed four broadband digital seismographs to facilitate the cooperation.

In recent years, strong earthquakes on the Chinese mainland have mostly centered on areas south of the Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang and southwest China's Yunnan Province.

In February, for instance, a major earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale and 11 other aftershocks measuring from 5.0 to 6.0 struck Bachu and Jiashi, both south of the Tianshan Mountains, killing 268 people.

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2003)