Shakey shakey

[Mongrel]

Shapu, I think you are actually on a fault line of sorts. I'm probably wrong though, lol.

It's the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone, which resulted from a mid-continental rift system. It's pretty much in the middle, width-wise, of the North American plate, and it's had maybe three recorded earthquakes over 5.0 in magnitude.

[Ange]

Thanks, Moongewl. It appears I actually remembered something from my ninth grade science class (which centered around Earth Science).

[Sapphire Faerie]

Shapu, I think you are actually on a fault line of sorts. I'm probably wrong though, lol.

It's the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone, which resulted from a mid-continental rift system. It's pretty much in the middle, width-wise, of the North American plate, and it's had maybe three recorded earthquakes over 5.0 in magnitude.

And that's an extention of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which is actually responsible for one of the largest earthquakes in U.S. history, an 8.1 in 1812 which created a lake in northwest Tennessee, permanently altered the course of the Mississippi river (forcing a chunk of Fulton county in southwest Kentucky into Missouri) and caused the river to run backward for several hours.

It could very well happen again.


And now for the science. The reason we have a fault and earthquakes here is because billions of years ago, the North American plate actually tried to split all the way up the middle, but failed. This formed a rift and created the Mississippi river. Imagine if it had split. I'd be living on the west coast of the eastern U.S. XD

[Christopher]

"Hello, my country is literally made of a fault line"

[Sapphire Faerie]

*pats Christopher on the head* And it's a very lovely one.

[shapu]

You're not in the middle of a very large continent, as far as possible from any faults.

Earthquakes in the midwestern US aren't something you usually think about, since there aren't any continental plates nearby other than the one we're on. It all has to do with a 70-million-year-old chunk of rock that refuses to die, apparently.

*Looks at map*


Care to say that again?

Perhaps I should try that again:
You aren't in the middle of MY continent. And since I'm a self-centered whiner (insert standard american joke here), that's the continent that matters.

[MarchingDuck]

*hugs the new madrid* We're just waitin for the "end all" big one. Geologists say its comin soon.

[Bangel]

I slept through the first one AND didn't feel the aftershock.
I'm thanking God for that, because earthquakes are my biggest fear and I probably would have gone into cardiac arrest.

[theonlysaneone]

I slept through the first one AND didn't feel the aftershock.
I'm thanking God for that, because earthquakes are my biggest fear and I probably would have gone into cardiac arrest.

You and Miles Edgeworth.

[Mongrel]

I slept through the first one AND didn't feel the aftershock.

It's the weirdest thing. I was talking to my mother last night and she said that it could be felt here, but I was actually awake when it happened(relaxing after finishing up a paper) and didn't feel a thing. This is at least the second time I've been in a place to feel an earthquake and completely missed it.

[shapu]

I'm beginning to think that people in Los Angeles should just clone Moongewl and Bangel and use them for the foundations of buildings.

[Sapphire Faerie]

We just had another one at 12:38 AM. It was a 4.5.

I was sitting up on the couch watching TV and eating my usual bedtime snack of cereal when I felt a mild shaking. Being the doom-death-and-destruction lover that I am, I was like "SCORE!" XD But the worst part is that I hit mute on the TV and was able to hear the boards in the wall creaking o_o

[MarchingDuck]

We just had another one at 12:38 AM. It was a 4.5.

I was sitting up on the couch watching TV and eating my usual bedtime snack of cereal when I felt a mild shaking. Being the doom-death-and-destruction lover that I am, I was like "SCORE!" XD But the worst part is that I hit mute on the TV and was able to hear the boards in the wall creaking o_o

hmm...maybe we ARE preparing for the big one.

Again, we felt nothing here in Rolla.

I'm not afraid of earthquakes. I'm afraid of my stuff getting smashed and broken.

*edit*
right after posting here I went to yahoo news and this was on the front page.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/200 ... hitmidwest

[Bangel]

Slept through it again...
Went to school to hear everyone talk about it the next day...
Victory is mine!

[MarchingDuck]

there was another one this morning right outside of where I live. I thought it was thunder (which sometimes rattles our house) until I realized that it was light outside and it kept on shaking for alot longer.