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Posted by clouddancer on 24-08-2011 at 18:20:
Earthquake
This morning I heard about the Earthquake that shook the Eastern Seaboard of North America, and have been busy since then so have only just found time to post.
I hope everyone in the States are okay and that you did not have any damages. Springie, Becky, Garnet, UW, LB, Allentown? (Sorry I can't think of any other regulars at the moment.)
We had no damage occur here in Ontario although some people say they felt the quake.
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Posted by Becky Rock on 24-08-2011 at 20:59:
We're fine in northern VA, although I'm sad to report the Washington Monument has a crack and has been closed indefinitely.
It was an experience I never thought to have. Kind of exciting and scary at the same time.
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Posted by amethyst on 24-08-2011 at 21:14:
5.8 that was just a baby. I haven't heard of much damage or about the movement, but it was likely mostly horizontal.
Now if you want to talk 7 or 8 and vertical movement, that's an earthquake.
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Posted by Becky Rock on 24-08-2011 at 23:58:
I know those of you in California have experienced a lot worse, but we never have them. It'd be like you getting a blizzard.
The National Cathedral was also damaged. Some of the tops of its spires fell off.
I know here was some damage near the epicenter. Building facades fell off, chimneys came down.
Ame, were you out there in the late 80s when that bad quake hit San Fran?
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Posted by clouddancer on 25-08-2011 at 00:26:
I had heard some of the monuments in Washington had been closed, but not why. Thank you for letting me/us know. I find it interesting that the news I heard went no further than reporting an earthquake, but not reporting the damage. Usually I think Canadian news is better than that or maybe since I was hearing about it so late, all the damage reports had already been announced. *shrug *
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Posted by Dragonsbain on 25-08-2011 at 01:26:
Thank you Becky. Each region has it's local everday disasters. I work with three guys that all moved from California. They were being gentle yesterday.
They all knew that this quake was minor for them but HUGE for us. It was agreed that it is dangerous to be in an earthquake on the East Coast. We don't build for it. Thus all the damage that is being recorded.
Just for note, I didn't feel the earthquake. Also the difference in the geology. The following is from the GEEKTECH.
Due to the positioning of the North American Plate boundary and nearby fault lines, the West Coast sees a lot of activity. Because of all this activity, the crust along the West Coast is generally a lot hotter and also a lot weaker in comparison to the East Coast, where the plate boundary is further out to sea. Seismic waves find it much easier to travel through colder, stronger, less abused areas of the Crust than more offset surfaces such as in California. As Holly explains:
“The West Coast is worse due to the collision of the Pacific and North American plate, creating the San Andreas fault line. The East Coast's closest plate boundary is Mid-Atlantic ridge, and that's pretty far away from it! [The East Coast's crust is] cooler and stronger, but [it] does not necessarily have a thicker crust though. But the colder surface definitely makes waves travel faster!â€
The actual bedrock can have an impact on how earthquakes travel. In Virginia, the Piedmont contributes to the Appalachian Range, created millions of years ago, out of very old rock. The mountain ranges were created out of faulted marine sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and were part of the original Pangaea supercontinent. The old and faulting rock of the Appalachian range, combined with the coolness of the east coast, and potential activity in the Seismic Zone encourages further-moving waves due to reverberation. The breaks in the bedrock of California usually stop this kind of reflex.
“Virginia is part of the Appalachian Range, so a similar formation to Scotland and Norway [once all of these countries were attached and the range ran throughout]--very old rock squashed in Pangaea supercontinent collision 440 Ma [million years ago]," Holy tells us. "This created loads of faulting, hence the wide spread of seismic propagation.â€
When you bring all these factors together, it makes a clearer picture as to why the Virginia quake carried so magnificently: cool, barely-ruptured ancient ground combined with an activity zone will let a sudden powerful surge energy equivalent to 7000 tons of TNT less than 4 miles from the surface travel at a fair pace across lots of connected faults and fault lines to reach other parts of the continent.
Of course, why such a sudden moderate-heavy quake happened at such a shallow depth is yet to be really uncovered--perhaps it's a mystery fault that went previously undetected--but if there's one thing that geologists, seismologists, and scientists can agree on, it's that the Earth will always continue to surprise.
I hope all of this explains a little. I'm offering a bit of comfort to those same three guys that have never been a hurricane before. I was in Hurricane Andrew.
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Posted by clouddancer on 25-08-2011 at 02:01:
I was interested to hear a statistic about earthquakes in Eastern Canada. , approximately 450 earthquakes occur every year. Of these, perhaps four will exceed magnitude 4, thirty will exceed magnitude 3.
I had always thought I lived in a non earthquake area (if such a thing exists), considering I always hear about earthquakes on the West Coast, obviously I am wrong.
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Posted by Becky Rock on 25-08-2011 at 02:15:
My understanding is anywhere can have a quake, just some areas are more prone than others.
A lot of the buildings in DC are old and obviously, not made to withstand an earthquake. They closed all the museums to check them out. A lot of govt buildings, too. Some water mains broke and one did in the Pentagon.
One of the strongest quakes in the US was actually along the Mississippi back in the 1800s. It was so strong it changed the path of the river. I can't remember where - will have to go look it up tomorrow, as I'm pooped from making plans incase we have to deal with Hurricane Irene.
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Posted by clouddancer on 25-08-2011 at 02:23:
Yes that is the next problem you are going to have to deal with. Best of luck.
Right now we are dealing with tornado warnings here in Southern Ontario. Luckily so far I have only had a lot of lightening, thunder and rain but not the strong winds or hail.
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Posted by Dragonsbain on 25-08-2011 at 04:04:
Becky I've already volunteered to go to the coast to help my employer. My hubby would be coming also. So I will see where Irene goes.
Good luck to everyone on the East Coast. What a week!
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Posted by amethyst on 25-08-2011 at 04:54:
Yeah, lived through Loma Prieta. Fortunately I was north of San Francisco at the time in Napa. However, I have very close ties to the other two cities that took major damage. I was born in Santa Cruz and my mother's family is from Hollister. Many of the buildings that I remember from my childhood in both towns are gone. Not damaged, but gone. I remember watching the fire that swept through the Marina District in the city.
Radio, phones, tv all were disrupted. I think radio and TV came back within 20 minutes to a half hour for those areas that had power. Being where we were, we were lucky. I had an uncle in Hollister and one in San Jose that we couldn't contact because of damage.
That one was felt throughout the San Andreas fault which means, it was pretty much felt from just north of Los Angeles to north of Santa Rosa.
But I suppose it's like the few times we get a twister stronger than a dust devil out here. I don't get wound up, but some do. Now we ever have a hurricane out on this end of the Pacific, then maybe I'll get uptight. Heck, we don't even get the monsoons that Asia and Hawaii get. Although, we might have had a few El Nino storms that make us wonder, I doubt they are on the same level.
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Posted by littlewolf on 25-08-2011 at 10:08:
Best wishes to all in the States and Canada caught in any form off natural issues
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Posted by Dragonsbain on 25-08-2011 at 23:01:
Thank you Littlewolf!
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Posted by Becky Rock on 26-08-2011 at 01:21:
The big earthquake on the east wa the New Madrid earthquake of Dce 16, 1811. It occurrred about halfway between St. Louis and Memphis. It was 7.7. It caused islands in the Mississippi River to disappear and raied one area up to 10 meters. There were also two more, but were not considered afterschooks because they weren't at the same location. the one Jan 23, 1812 was a 7.5 and the one Feb 7, 1812 was 7.7. They raised and lowered land as well. One created a lake when the land fell and ground water seeped up.
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Posted by amethyst on 26-08-2011 at 02:47:
Yeah, there is a major fault line in that area. It's been awhile since I studied this stuff. There are a few faults on the east coast, mostly minor and they follow along the mountains mostly.
There are a lot in California, but the San Andres is the big on. Some day maybe a decade from now or 10,000 years the coast line of California will split off and become on island leaving the central valley as the coast. That is if it doesn't disintegrate first.
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Posted by lborgia88 on 26-08-2011 at 03:16:
I've felt a few earthquakes in my life, in Montreal, Ohio and Indiana, but all very mild. The most recent one, I didn't notice it at all here.
I'm a little more concerned about Hurricane Irene, mostly with an eye to how strong it will be if/when it reaches Nova Scotia, where my parents live. Currently, it's not predicted to be very strong by the time it gets that far. Hurricanes usually aren't, though every once in a while, Nova Scotia gets slammed (like in 2003 with Hurricane Juan).
Best wishes for all in the Carolinas and the northeast to make it through safely!
Posted by Dragonsbain on 26-08-2011 at 04:54:
Good luck to all. I'm probably going to be headed for somewhere between Myrtle Beach and Willmington, NC tomorrow night.
I'm a sucker for a good disaster flick, but this is getting scary real quick. I would rather take a major hit in NC. We are prepped to handle such stuff. NYC isn't.
The History Channel did a documentary on NYC getting hit with a hurricane. If you want a real eye opener watch the link I'm going to post then watch the Weather Channel. Hopefully, NYC doesn't get hit with Irene.
After riding out Andrew I don't mess with hurricanes. I will forever give them their due and respect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjWVpY4_sPM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 26-08-2011 at 13:27:
I hope everyone is able to get out of the hurricane's path!
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Posted by AllentownDarkWater on 26-08-2011 at 14:32:
I felt the earthquake. I was talking on the phone to my dad, and all of a sudden, the whole room shook, and he said that it shook where he was too.
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 26-08-2011 at 23:25:
I didn't know there was an earthquake until I watched the news.
We spent the week readying the East side of the Allen Building for possible evacuees from Savannah. Never happened.
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