[Rockhounds] Difference between East and West Coast US earthquakes,was New Madrid fault

[Mark Sigouin]

Hello,

Mark from Harrisburg, PA about 40 miles west of Reading.  I experienced the 
second earthquake in Reading, PA.  I was sitting in my sister's livingroom 
when I heard a strange noise akin to a big gust of wind that I perceived as 
out on the street.  I got up and pulled the curtain aside to see if a storm 
had blown up.  Later that night I was watching the news and they announced 
that there had been an earthquake.  The time correlated with the noise.  I 
think what I heard was the french door's frame creek as the Rayleigh wave 
passing by.

The first earthquake , I don't recall where I was.

Mark

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carol J. Bova" <bova at mindspring.com>
To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 10:57 AM
Subject: [Rockhounds] Difference between East and West Coast US 
earthquakes,was New Madrid fault


> Dora,
> It's not that scientists can't deal with dynamic complexity, it's that 
> there is a major difference between California and the East Coast when  it 
> comes to earthquakes:
>
> "East Coast earthquakes, such as the one that struck Charleston, South 
> Carolina, in 1886 are felt over a much larger area than earthquakes 
> occurring on the West Coast, because the eastern half of the country  is 
> mainly composed of older rock that has not been fractured and  cracked by 
> frequent earthquake activity in the recent geologic past.  Rock that is 
> highly fractured and crushed absorbs more seismic energy  than rock that 
> is less fractured. The Charleston earthquake, with an  estimated magnitude 
> of about 7.0, was felt as far away as Chicago,  more than 1,300 km to the 
> northwest, whereas the 7.1-magnitude Loma  Prieta earthquakes was felt no 
> farther than Los Angeles, about 500 km  south. The most widely felt 
> earthquakes ever to strike the United  States were centered near the town 
> of New Madrid, Missouri, in 1811  and 1812. Three earthquakes, felt as far 
> away as Washington D.C., were  each estimated to be above 8.0 in 
> magnitude. Most of us do not  associate earthquakes with New York City, 
> but beneath Manhattan is a  network of intersecting faults, a few of which 
> are capable of causing  earthquakes. The most recent earthquake to strike 
> New York City  occurred in 1985 and measured 4.0 in magnitude, and a pair 
> of  earthquakes (magnitude 4.0 and 4.5) shook Reading, Pennsylvania, in 
> January 1994 causing minor damage."
> From: USGS, This Dynamic Earth,  Plate Tectonics and People
> http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/tectonics.html
>
> ((Side note: I had just moved to Brooklyn in 1985, and the night  before 
> our furniture arrived, was sleeping on the floor in a sleeping  bag when 
> the quake on the Hudson Valley  fault hit. It felt like  someone shaking 
> me, and it wasn't until I sat up and realized my  husband was still 
> asleep, and another tremor shook us that I realized  I was experiencing my 
> first earthquake.))
>
> Check out this database:
> U.S. Geological Survey and New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral 
> Resources, 2006,
> Quaternary fault and fold database for the United States, accessed Jan  9, 
> 2006, from USGS web site:
> http//earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/qfaults/
>
> It is so full of information and links and maps, you could spend a  year 
> in it!
> Carol
>
>
>
> On Mar 27, 2009, at 10:55 AM, Dora Smith wrote:
>
>> Thanks!  Good article!  I will add it to my page.
>>
>> It looks like the scientists workign on the fault really can't deal  with 
>> dynamic complexity; it's a problem shared by alot of scientists.
>>
>> Rules that apply to the California faults don't apply to the New  Madrid 
>> fault system?   Come on!
>> Yours,
>> Dora Smith
>> Austin, TX
>> tiggernut24 at yahoo.com
>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: <betdav97 at aol.com>
>> To: <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 12:30 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] New Madrid fault
>>
>>> Except for the first few posts, I have not been following this
>>> thread, but this just came across the net, hope it hasn't been
>>> posted already.
>>>
>>> http://news.aol.com/article/new-madrid-fault/398744
>>>
>
>
> --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> multipart/alternative
>  text/plain (text body -- kept)
>  text/html
> ---
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
> Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
> Subscription Services:
> http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
> List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
> http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html
>