An array of deep holes in the ground seems to lessen shaking in certain locations during a simulated earthquake.

Stéphane Brûlé of soil-engineering company Ménard in Nozay, France, and his colleagues drilled a grid of boreholes 5 metres deep into the soil near Grenoble. A crane then lowered a probe into the ground nearby, where it vibrated to simulate an earthquake. The boreholes were located in places where the seismic waves interfered with one another and cancelled each other out. Thus, the array of holes deflected much of the seismic energy and bounced it back towards the source.

The approach could lead to new ways to protect buildings from shaking during earthquakes, the authors say.

Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 133901 (2014)