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What sank the Kursk? On Saturday, 12th August, 2000, one of the world’s most advanced and secret submarines, the Kursk, sank to the bottom of the sea with no survivors. At the time, the Kursk was on a naval exercise carrying a crew of 118 sailors. The Kursk was the pride of the Russian navy. Larger than two jumbo jets and built with two titanium hulls, one inside the other, the Kursk could carry 30 torpedoes, each fitted with a nuclear warhead. The Kursk was capable of remaining at sea for up to six months. Internally, the Kursk was divided into nine watertight compartments and was believed to be unsinkable. The sinking of the Kursk caused great embarrassment to the Russian nation. The cause of the accident was initially a mystery. Shortly before the submarine was reported as lost, the seismic recording station called ARCES in northern Norway recorded two explosions. The data generated are presented here for you to analyse. When and where did the Kursk sink? Two events were recorded at ARCES at around 0730 on Saturday, 12th August 2000. At this time, the Kursk was on naval exercises in the region. UK and US ships and submarines were also thought to be in the area making observations. The BBC first reported an accident at about the same time. Reporter Latitude / °N Longitude / °E Report time GMT Richter scale magnitude BBC 69.62 37.58 - - ARCES 69.70 36.80 07.28.27 1.5 ARCES 69.57 37.54 07.30.42 3.5 Table 1 Use an atlas or electronic map to find out where the events occurred. Which is the bigger disturbance? Initial reports suggested that there had been an accident with a nuclear submarine. The Russians reported that the Kursk had collided with another submarine. The seismic data gives clues as to what happened. Seismic data is collected all the time, recording earthquakes and other events such as explosions that cause the ground to move. Use Figure 1 to work out the time difference between the two events. This sho