East coast earthquake

[piebaldpython]

Right off the CNN wire:

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 struck in northern Virginia, the U.S. Geological Survey said Tuesday.

The quake was felt in Washington, D.C., and as far away as North Carolina and New York, witnesses said. While all U.S. Capitol buildings were evacuated, there were no reports of injuries or damage.

My wife felt it here in Philly and ran out of the house. Everything is OK. Baby Cobra felt it too. I was walking in work and thought I had hit a flexible piece of flooring (we do have those). DAMN!!!

[Bookkeeper's Son]

All my Philly and DC area Facebook friends are posting like mad

[FrankenFretter]

It was a shallow-focus quake, which explains why it was felt so far away. Hope everyone out that way is okay!

[progrmr]

People are running around my office freaking out saying they felt the building shake (Columbus Ohio)...I felt nothing lol!

[Eric]

No issues here. I was putting a small amount of weight on a table (leaning back) at the time, and I thought it was the table scooting away from me. My wife works in a giant office building in center city and said it was kind of freaky.

[FrankenFretter]

I heard on another forum that there was one in Colorado last night. I haven't checked the InterWebz for verification yet. And yes, I know I'm on the InterWebz right now, smart guy. ;)

[piebaldpython]

Both my wife and daughter said the dishes were rattling a bit in their china cabinets. Some people in work got freaked out a bit. DUH.......but earthquakes are pretty rare around these parts. I do remember one about 35 yrs ago when I was in Junior High School.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

...but earthquakes are pretty rare around these parts. I do remember one about 35 yrs ago when I was in Junior High School.
That must be the same one I remember, late 60's/early 70s around 2 AM. I was the only one in the family who woke up.

[Beerman]

I heard that unlike California which is on a number of smaller plates, the east coast is basically one big plate and that explains why it was felt so far away.
I think the last real quake was in the late 1800's.

[piebaldpython]

Yeah, that's probably the one.......although I remember it being closer to 6 AM. lol

[Tig]

I was surprised to learn that this was the 25th known earthquake in Virginia since it became a colony.

On to more pressing matters...
Maybe we judged these wacko's too soon?
:messedup: :rotflmao:
http://topuspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/end-of-the-world-may-21-2011.jpg

[FrankenFretter]

Still waiting for our local geologist to weigh in...paging NWBasser....paging NWBasser!

[bcdon]

I was surprised to learn that this was the 25th known earthquake in Virginia since it became a colony.

On to more pressing matters...
Maybe we judged these wacko's too soon?
:messedup: :rotflmao:
http://topuspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/end-of-the-world-may-21-2011.jpg

I was just thinking, you know, that guy may have been on to something just a few months off. I think I'll start digging my fallout shelter now, I better stock up on guitar strings and tubes for my amph! ;-) :dude

[NWBasser]

Still waiting for our local geologist to weigh in...paging NWBasser....paging NWBasser!

Huh?? Somebody call me?

I was napping, dang it.

That part of the continent is considered fairly seismically stable. The rocks out that way haven't been shattered and broken up very much compared to the west coast. So, the "continuity", for lack of a better term, of the rocks there means that a tremor gets transmitted far and wide. Around here, the seismic waves quickly get lost in the "mush" of broken rock bits and pieces.

We had a similar size quake here in 2001, but it was 30 miles deep and wasn't felt nearly as far away.

The New Madrid fault system around Missouri (If I recall correctly) has the potential for a really big quake. An event on that fault would be felt nearly everywhere across the eastern half of the country.

I find it really odd that we haven't had much seismic activity here considering all plate movements going on in the area.

[Eric]

That was very informative and quite understandable. Thanks, NWB!