WWTBAM Bored

I know, I know, you wouldn't think southern Indiana has much in common with southern California.

And you would be right.

But we did have our third "felt" earthquake in a little over 10 years this morning -- a whopper initially estimated at a magnitude of 5.4. It was actually centered on the border between Indiana and Illinois -- that's a minor fault system that appears to be waking up after a long slumber. One of my contacts at IU has done research that finds some evidence that this region was once much more seismically active, including some sand blows and dikes (calm down, everyone!) that indicate this fault system once had earthquakes more in the region of 7 and 8 magnitudes. Yikes!

HEre's the link to the USGS map of recent earthquakes in the US, for all you EQ geeks out there (and you know who you are!)

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/

mrkelley23 wrote:I know, I know, you wouldn't think southern Indiana has much in common with southern California.

And you would be right.

But we did have our third "felt" earthquake in a little over 10 years this morning -- a whopper initially estimated at a magnitude of 5.4.

I've never felt one before, and didn't realize I had felt one till I saw the story on the computer when I logged in. I'm surprised from that far away the shaking didn't blend in with the normal rumbling we get all the time from the plant across the street, but it stood out quite well....

Now how about plugging that fault up so we don't get any aftershocks....?

lb13

Does anything happen to your foundations? Do you get cracked in your walls? Things like that?

I saw the headline on the TV while I was at the gym. I'm glad that it only was strong enough to be felt and not cause any damage in your area.

What was the name of that big quake on the Mississippi back around 1800 or so?

MarleysGh0st wrote:I saw the headline on the TV while I was at the gym. I'm glad that it only was strong enough to be felt and not cause any damage in your area.

What was the name of that big quake on the Mississippi back around 1800 or so?

New Madrid in 1811.

Bob Juch wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:I saw the headline on the TV while I was at the gym. I'm glad that it only was strong enough to be felt and not cause any damage in your area.

What was the name of that big quake on the Mississippi back around 1800 or so?

New Madrid in 1811.

Were you living there then?

mrkelley23 wrote:I know, I know, you wouldn't think southern Indiana has much in common with southern California.

And you would be right.

But we did have our third "felt" earthquake in a little over 10 years this morning -- a whopper initially estimated at a magnitude of 5.4. It was actually centered on the border between Indiana and Illinois -- that's a minor fault system that appears to be waking up after a long slumber. One of my contacts at IU has done research that finds some evidence that this region was once much more seismically active, including some sand blows and dikes (calm down, everyone!) that indicate this fault system once had earthquakes more in the region of 7 and 8 magnitudes. Yikes!

HEre's the link to the USGS map of recent earthquakes in the US, for all you EQ geeks out there (and you know who you are!)

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/

Local media have been talking about scattered reports of damage in the Louisville area, mostly minor stuff but one bridge over a major interstate highway may have been cracked. I didn't notice it at all, but my boss and several others said they did.

littlebeast13 wrote:I've never felt one before, and didn't realize I had felt one till I saw the story on the computer when I logged in.

Felt it up here in NW Indiana. It was a strong, rhythmic movement. Until I heard the news, I was quite impressed that my son could have been, um, enjoying himself well enough to shake the whole house.

Glad everyone is OK. I'm always worried about my Southern California friends falling into a big black hole someday.

I haven't heard from any of my family in Louisville. I'll let you know if I do.

April 18, 1906.

San Francisco earthquake.

Hmmm. . .

April 18, 1906.

San Francisco earthquake.

Hmmm. . .

Are you saying you were there? Oh, sorry, a coincidental date.

While I barely felt it up here, one of our expressway had a major upheaval of a metal connection that caused blowouts and had to be hastily dug up and removed and is now being repaired causing shutdown on the Edens Expy.

Just read a great YA book on the effect of the moon's gravity on us and what would happen if an asteroid hit the moon and caused it to shift closer to us. Tides rising, earthquakes, volcanos erupting. very intense. It's called Life as we knew it.

I'm crawling into bed with a stomach bug. see ya guys later.

We woke up, but we didn't know why 'til we turned on the news later. No, not in Boston; in Ohio.

Local news reports this morning indicated that it was felt as far as here in the Atlanta area. I did not feel this one but we had our own little tremor a bit closer along the north Georgia/Alabama border a few years ago that I did feel. Felt rather like one of those vibrating beds in a cheap motel that you put quarters in (Not that I would know about that personally or anything...).

Now with the recent tornado experience in downtown Atlanta a few weeks ago which passed essentially directly overhead, experience with a dust storm in Oklahoma some years ago, hurricanes and their aftermath on multiple occasions along the Gulf coast, lava flows in Hawaii and more than a few close lightninig strikes over the years I think I have had more than enough experience with weather and geologic phenomenon to last me a lifetime.

Sadly, I don't think I have much control over additional future experiences...

Because the New Madrid fault system, as well as the Wabash Valley Fault zone, are mid-continent faults, as opposed to places like San Andreas which are at plate boundaries, earthquakes here are felt over a much longer distance than they are in SoCal.

That's why geologists thought for so long that the New Madrid quakes of 1811-12 were so much bigger than they apparently were. What used to be referred to routinely as 8.1 or 8.2 quakes are now generally recognized to have been more in the 7.0 range. The original magnitude estimates were all based on eyewitness accounts, naturally, and the fact that those earthquakes were felt way up in Boston is what had them thinking massive and catastrophic. But the actual ground evidence tells a different story, apparently.

As to damage, no reports of anything major here -- some things falling off shelves, pictures knocked askew, etc. The newspaper did have a picture of a carport collapse, but the thing looked so dilapidated I'm not sure you can say the earthquake caused it.

Nice aftershock this morning around 10:15, too.

earendel wrote:I didn't notice it at all, but my boss and several others said they did.

I guess you were shaken, not stirred.