May 18, 2009
-
Earthquake .... Really???
This year has been tough. Sometimes I try to sneak a few of my bedding plants into the ground before the end of May. Low temps with possible frost and/or a freeze are predicted for the next few evenings.
The weatherman predicted temps in the thirties so I schlepped my flats back into the garage for the night. I thought that my greatest concern was to save my plants from freezing. I guess this is why most people do not put any ‘tender’ plants in the ground until after Memorial Day. As the holiday is a week early this year, I will probably wait a few more days. Anyways…..
We had an earthquake last night. I’ve written before about the differences between west coast quakes and east coast quakes. Well, to be completely accurate, the east coast does have some fault lines so quakes are to be expected. But the Adirondack region is another story altogether.
At the present time, a commonly accepted explanation for the cause of earthquakes in the Northeast is that "ancient zones of weakness" are being reactivated in the present-day stress field. In this model, preexisting faults … formed during ancient geological episodes persist in the intraplate (New York type) crust, and, … earthquakes occur when the present-day stress is released along these zones of weakness … much of the research on northeastern United States earthquakes has involved attempts to identify preexisting faults and other geological features that might be reactivated by the present-day stress field ... in reality the identification of individual active geologic features has proven to be quite difficult. Unlike the situation for many plate boundary (Californian type) earthquakes,
It is not at all clear whether faults mapped at the earth's surface in the Northeast are the same faults along which the earthquakes are occurring.
In other words, scientists have no real explanation as to why we experience earthquakes where we do.
We do not experience the rolling shaking quakes that the west coast does. It is mostly a wimpy shimmy. What we do have is noise. Most people will report hearing what they think sounds like a cabinet falling over or a door suddenly slammed shut. Others will say they thought that a large truck has rumbled down the street. Of course there is also the obligatory “train passing by” (even when there is not a railway anywhere nearby).
Last night’s quake occurred at 8:53 PM, was about 5.6 miles deep and registered a 3.0 on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale. Granted, this is not a very strong quake and most people probably did not notice the mild shaking that accompanied the “noise”.
It’s more likely they noticed their pets wonky behavior.
Maybe it’s only a conincedence that California also had an earthquake at about 9 PM last night.
Whoo Hoo… I just heard that we had an aftershock of 2.1.
Another no feel em… lol
Comments (5)
I remember an earthquake in Toronto, no kidding.
I say drink as much beer as you can before the walls come crashing down.
Just a thought.
I go "home" to Tokyo tomorrow for a week - remind me to tighten the braces between the bookcases and the ceilings. I wonder if your "3" is the same as our "3." They get your attention. I have experienced 4, but never above that.
Oh, you just reminded me to go out and check my plants. We planted EVERYthing, The night before, we brought it all in, or put it on the deck and covered it, or even wrapped blankets and sheets around the things we could not move. It took forever, and forever again to take it all off. I didn't even hear the freeze warning until late last night, so they took their chances...and I haven't looked yet!
I didn't feel any quake, although I did once, many years ago. It was weird - we NEVER seem to have them!
@Bricker59 - You betcha. I've got 98 bottles of beer on the wall!! What a mess and waste to feed it to a quake.
@usalapinhazzer - The scale is the same. However, our quakes occur somewhat deeper than the Pacific rim quakes. They are NOT located on fault lines and quite frankly have stumped the experts as to why they happen at all. The geology and make up of the rocks cause the energy to stay deeper and travel further, so shaking up top is not as pronounced or damaging as those generated along the Pacific fault lines. We have had stronger quakes that can shake "stuff" off shelves and take down older brick chimneys. We have even had one that occured in Plattsburg, NY that subducted some roadways nearer to the epicenter. The reason this particular quake is news worthy is because it is the 15th located at that epicenter since February 2009 and the experts are beginning to see an escalation in intensity and frequency. They are concered that it may be signaling a build up to a 7.0, which is very rare but not impossible for this region. Now that would rattle and roll!!!!
Comments are closed.