Earthquake here in Indiana of all places

[lasersailor184]

Wouldn't it be the irony or ironies if everything East of the San Anderas Fault slid into the Atlantic Ocean?

The San Andreas fault is actually a rather tame fault.  It is rather active, but nothing too major or damaging.

However, the New Madrid fault is a ticking timebomb.  Some day, no one has ANY clue as to when, everything South East of Kentucky is just going to disappear.  Not one single person knows when this will happen.  It could happen tomorrow, it could happen a couple billion years from now.  It's just going to rip open.

[Saxman]

E25280,

My point is that SIK saying the 1906 quake, and San Andreas in general, was more devastating because the damage was confined to a smaller area is incorrect. As I said before, the only thing that's kept the devastation caused by the New Madrid fault to a minimum is the fact that the population density and level of urbanization is significantly less than the inhabited areas along the San Andreas.

The other problem, getting to what laser is saying, is that New Madrid isn't just a fault line but a failed continental rift. It's been more or less good fortune over the past few million years the continent hasn't been ripped in half and the Mississippi River hasn't turned into a SEA, which NEARLY happened on several occasions already (one such incident is what helped form Lake Superior).

[AWMac]

Pfffft you guys whine about a minor Earthquake?

Oklahoma/Kansas F5 Tornados rule.

Evil Bastages. 

Grab the dog Dorthy, We're going to Oz.

Mac

[uptown]

I was at the computer reading the news and weather before work and felt the house move. Looked over at a house plant and it was swaying back and forth. I thought, "was that a earthquake". Nah, they don't have those in southern Iowa. Heard on the news later in the day that it was a earthquake Time was 4:40 am...made sure I looked at the time to make a mental note of it.

[Holden McGroin]

The San Andreas fault is actually a rather tame fault.  It is rather active, but nothing too major or damaging.

--- see San Francisco 1906

[Toad]

It's been more or less good fortune over the past few million years the continent hasn't been ripped in half and the Mississippi River hasn't turned into a SEA, which NEARLY happened on several occasions already (one such incident is what helped form Lake Superior).

So everything East of the Mississippi could be sundered from the Midwest and sink into the ocean? And California could fall into the Pacific?

NOW I get what Obama is saying... that's Change I Can Believe In!



 

[SIK1]

E25280,

My point is that SIK saying the 1906 quake, and San Andreas in general, was more devastating because the damage was confined to a smaller area is incorrect. As I said before, the only thing that's kept the devastation caused by the New Madrid fault to a minimum is the fact that the population density and level of urbanization is significantly less than the inhabited areas along the San Andreas.

The other problem, getting to what laser is saying, is that New Madrid isn't just a fault line but a failed continental rift. It's been more or less good fortune over the past few million years the continent hasn't been ripped in half and the Mississippi River hasn't turned into a SEA, which NEARLY happened on several occasions already (one such incident is what helped form Lake Superior).

Sax my point was that the energy released in the 1906 SF quake was concentrated in a smaller area, think a cherry bomb in a can as opposed to out in the open. Although the more research I do the more I see that the Richter scale is not really a measure of energy, but rather a measure of movement, so I will concede that this may not be a good analogy.

More towards your point of population density, far more damage was done by the fires after the quake than by the quake itself.

CA has several active faults in and around the state. Many runnig through densly populated areas. We have several volcanoes that are "potentially" active (USGS wording) as well. Two of which I can see from my front yard, Mt Shasta, and Lassen peak. Lassen last erupted in 1921, and is seismicly active.

CA is far more active seismiclly than the New Madrid fault. So we may not get ripped apart all at once but a little bit at a time.

[E25280]

E25280,

My point is that SIK saying the 1906 quake, and San Andreas in general, was more devastating because the damage was confined to a smaller area is incorrect. As I said before, the only thing that's kept the devastation caused by the New Madrid fault to a minimum is the fact that the population density and level of urbanization is significantly less than the inhabited areas along the San Andreas.

The other problem, getting to what laser is saying, is that New Madrid isn't just a fault line but a failed continental rift. It's been more or less good fortune over the past few million years the continent hasn't been ripped in half and the Mississippi River hasn't turned into a SEA, which NEARLY happened on several occasions already (one such incident is what helped form Lake Superior).

What I was really driving at is that the "low population density" of the midwest making midwest quakes a non-factor will not hold water anymore.  A magnitude 8 quake in 1812 in the midwest was, as you say, of limited consequence because relatively few people lived there, and there were relatively few large buildings to be damaged.

It isn't 1812 anymore.  A magnitude 8 event near modern day San Francisco would be devestating -- to a relatively localized area around the Bay.  A magnitude 8 quake in the modern midwest could very well flatten SEVERAL major cities, not to mention all the smaller ones.  Take a look at a map of Illinois . . . it isn't "urbanized", but it isn't rural Utah, either.  And without a history of quakes, I would wager very few homes and buildings are adequately built to handle a major shaking.

[Meatwad]

I dont even think earthquake proofing new homes is required here

[Octavius]

I felt this last one in Milwaukee!  12:38 AM CST... I felt a minor vibration like a airliner on final or a loud motorcycle, but couldn't hear anything.  Just dawned on me to investigate a few minutes ago.

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2008/04/21/breaking_news/doc480c30f043f35696552381.txt

[Meatwad]

Wonder if something big is coming

[Frodo]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080418/sc_livescience/scientistsevenbiggerquakecouldhitmidwest;_ylt=AoCKb4haG7ZI2fN_uZ06u9ys0NUE

Some good info here.

Frodo

[ink]

earthquakes in diverse places... a sign of the end days.

[AquaShrimp]

I saw this dude riding on a white horse with a flaming sword in the sky.  Is that good or bad?

[lasersailor184]

--- see San Francisco 1906

(Image removed from quote.)

You think a couple of buildings even begins to measure in magnitude with a tectonic plate just ripping away?