Virginia Earthquake

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Here an interesting link for you all. It contains a cool animation of the ripple effect over the whole of the US. Check it out. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...across-the-us/

[renormalised (Carl)]

Like the animation

[RB (Andrew)]

That's pretty cool, thanks for the link jjj.

[Ric]

That's amazing how the quake travelled.

A very interesting link.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Now lets see.

That gave a little shake over the west coast.

Could it start the west coast shaking?

Cheers Kev.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

It could just give it that bit of a nudge it needs.
I'd be worried about Yellow Stone too.
Where's Carl....I'd like his take on it.

[Jen]

woah that was cool

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Virginia gets one mag 5.8 and lots of coverage.

Colorado had a 5.3 and the only reference I've seen is Phil Plait's comment and the USGS emailed report.

Since 20 Aug 2011 16:55:02 UTC Vanuatu has had one 7.5, a 7.0, a 5.6 and a 5.8. Did any of them make the news?

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

I am in Kenya for meetings so missed the near "once in a lifetime" east Coast event but my wife said she felt it at our house. She actually said that she yelled at the kids for "jumping" and then belatedly realized that it was not them.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by wavelandscott

She actually said that she yelled at the kids for "jumping" and then belatedly realized that it was not them.

Thanks Nettie, that was pretty awesome to watch.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

It could just give it that bit of a nudge it needs.
I'd be worried about Yellow Stone too.
Where's Carl....I'd like his take on it.

Given that the amount of movement was somewhere in the vicinity of 40 microns, and the amount of energy imparted into the rocks at the distance of Yellowstone and the San Andreas, I would doubt very much if it managed to cause anything or influenced these areas in any way. The only thing I can think of that may have been a consequence of the quake is a possibility that the regional tectonic stresses may have increased in some areas whilst decreased in others. This may (and I emphasise, may) lead to something possibly happening at some stage down the track. But the amount of energy that quake released wasn't all that great....about the equivalent of a 450KT nuclear device. Apart from seismometers, you would need very accurate strain gauges placed at regular intervals in various sites all over the country to tell what might have occurred elsewhere. I would also venture to add sensitive magnetometers and resistivity/current meters as well, to measure any changes to the magnetic and electrical fields of the areas.