Lessons from Life

Saw a show on the History Channel about the New Madrid Fault. Amazing, facinating, and scary all at once.

"There have been three earthquakes in central Arkansas in the last 24 hours" wow ! I did not hear it! thanks for posting on it!

"No damage reported, and as of yet, I've not even heard of any reports of the quakes having been felt, which is kinda strange in itself, because one can usually feel a quake of greater than 2.5 magnitude."

thanks God for it!

I hope we know more about it, if it is water soaking ground ,it will make me worry even more!

Star, those aren't earthquakes......we're just moving the furniture around down here!

Star, the saturated ground was not the reason you couldn`t feel the shakes because most of seismic activity there is happening in 3 to 15 miles (5-25km) under the ground. And we are talking about big shelves moving. There is no rain that could hide it easily. But such things happen. I remember when Isabel talked about earthquake that hit her island in 1998. I think. The north part of island was devastated, few villages hit very hard and 8 persons died. The south of island was almost intact. And this is small island 13x10 miles (21x16km). The direction of energy released was probably the cause you felt nothing

sorry for being smart ass

The whole of America is being shunted by the Atlantic just now. I have a regular reader in north NY who moved up there for peace & quiet, and can't quite believe me telling him there's a big one building. Have been watching it on Infra Red (links from my welcome post). I have the New Madrid quake in the 'seismic bazaar' link - that's one of the reasons why injuns lived in wigwams!
The rain could be helping to cause the quakes, lubricating the faults and making the lower side heavier. Wet ground usually acts like jello and should shake more..
=o}

And shouldn't the wet soil be prone to liquefaction? (makes things sink)

It will. Although you'd have to be looking at long 5-6 point quakes and above, I should think. New Moon after equinox won't be helping.

Originally posted by 53north:

The rain could be helping to cause the quakes, lubricating the faults and making the lower side heavier.

It's just all the B. S. piling up in Washington that's making the east side of the fault heavier!

I have never been in a major earthquake but have felt two tremors where I live. This is in the last ten years. There is a major fault up near the Grand Canyon which is more than 200 miles away. Here's some interesting Wikipedia info I found regarding the Mesa Butte/Kiabab fault at Grand Canyon:

"Grand Canyon lies on the southern end of the Intermountain West seismic belt[75] At least 35 earthquakes larger than 3.0 on the Richter Scale occurred in the Grand Canyon region in the 20th century.[76] Of these, five registered over 5.0 on the Richter Scale and the largest was a 6.2 quake that occurred in January 1906.[76] Major roughly north—south trending faults that cross the canyon are (from west to east), the Grand Wash, Hurricane and Toroweap.[77] Major northeast-trending fracture systems of normal faults that intersect the canyon include the West Kaibab and Bright Angel while northwest-trending systems include the Grandview—Phantom.[78] Most earthquakes in the region occur in a narrow northwest-trending band between the Mesa Butte and West Kaibab fracture systems.[79] These events are likely the result of eastward-migrating crustal stretching that may eventually move past the Grand Canyon area.[79]"

When the US has a fair sized shake, the whole country tends to join in. In 1811-12 when the Mississippi Valley got rearranged, 1812 saw California turned upside down too. Major shaking has a tendency to move away from the equator and East to West..hence the Samoa quake being passed down to Indonesia to Mauritius to mid Atlantic - we're now at the stage where the US get's the residue. Meanwhile out West they were under slightly less tension after Samoa, hence the swarm of San Diego - Alaska and Mexico - Chile temblors.
If you live north of Mass. on the east coast, I'd take a few small preparedness steps like sticking down ornaments/ securing bookcases and wardrobes, etc..

As long as Yellowstone doesn't start shaking and growling...

We rarely get noticeable earthquakes in the UK, and they tend to make the national news when they do occur. I've never experienced one except on the simulator in the National History Museum

I have experienced one real quake. Five-point-something on the scale. It almost scared me to my wits' end - even though it wasn't that serious.

I consider myself lucky that I don't live near a major earthquake area - same as you do.

I was on the Interstate in East LaLa when the Loma Prieta hit in 89, nothing shook, but I pulled over feeling ill. 'Feel the force, Luke, feel the force'.
I was right on top of the British 5.4 last Feb 27, in bed with a 100year old 16ft chimney towering over me..
=o}

Congratulations, you made google news search for 'earthquake'..
http://www.wreg.com/sns-ap-ar--earthquake-ark,0,7981457.story

and some stuff I found on the K-Local on mobile..
http://www.localwireless.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=131&nid=1503172&cid=185&scid=-1&ith=8&title=Arkansas%20State%20News

http://www.localwireless.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=61&nid=1510159&cid=334&scid=-1&title=Local%20Headlines&ith=4

Well now, isn't that special.

53north sa moy binky winky. Sa moy boing boing, agh ah.

Apparently it's not unusual for some folks to feel wierd before a quake
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_13579325

No news of this appeared in St. Louis at all! Kind of typical for this city, certainly a major target should the New Madrid fault slip, but which goes on with a general disregard for the earthquake danger.

We had one in Canada many years ago. When someone mentioned it to my son, then 4, he explained it wasn't an earthquake, it was just mommy doing her exercises!