Re: OT -- attacking science and fighting back

SBC Yahoo wrote:
"Jo Schaper" <jospamnotschaper34@5socket78dot9net> wrote in message news:12ivh1mgt28ld62@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SBC Yahoo wrote:
<snip>
Earthquake preparedness, in California, must be something like the "duck and cover" we went through during the Cuban Missile Crisis. As school kids, we were told in the event of a nuclear explosion (attack), we were to get under our desks (duck) and place our hands over our heads (cover). A lot of good that would have done, huh? I think the best EQ prep is to move to the Midwest.
Yeah. Earthquake-proof land is cheap near New Madrid, Missouri. *|;-^)

Yes I see the similarity between the New Madrid Fault and the San Andreas. During the past week there were 283 earthquake events in California, of magnitude 1-5, while along the New Madrid there were 3 of magnitude 1 and 2.
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/)


This place is the King of Earthquakes, in the US.

I do believe the historic New Madrid quake may have been one of the strongest to hit the USA in recent times, although a Alaskan quake was around 9.0 not too long ago. You are probably more likely to be struck by lightning in Southern Missouri that to be involved in a major quake (+6.0). While in SoCal, it is not a question of if, just when.

I suppose that is why so many are trying out their versions of Earthquake Crystal Balls?

I was merely pointing out that the mid-continent is not earthquake free.
We get 3s hard enough to be felt every year or so, and I'm 140 miles away. As I recall we had a 5 sometime in the early 1970s. Epicenters of the quakes tend to center on the Missouri bootheel and NE Arkansas region, but also occur somewhat randomly outside that zone (about 30 miles from me), in central Illinois, in Kentucky and so forth. There are two other seismically active zones I know of: one associated with the Kansas/Nebraska Nemaha Ridge and the mid-continental rift zone, and another near Cleveland, Ohio. The latter is usually reported as remnant uplift from the Pleistocene continental compression, but one never knows. The New Madrid fault zone actually goes beneath suburban Memphis (perhaps contributed to the 'shake, rattle and roll' of Elvis Presley.)

There's an article in large NMSZ recurrence in this month's Geotimes. John Holbrook, the chief researcher, used to be at Southeast Missouri State (Cape Girardeau) until they shut down their geology department a couple of years ago. The last big earthquake was Oct. 31, 1895 at Charleston, MO-- estimated 5.7 body wave and 6.7 surface wave. It was felt in 23 states. We're about due for another 6.

The problem with Midwestern earthquakes isn't their magnitude, but that they tend to propagate long distances, because they happen under miles of alluvium. Take a look at this for the last 6 months: http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/Maps/89-36.html
and this summary:
http://www.eas.slu.edu/SeismicSafety/ANNUAL.99/n05.html

Not hardly 'no earthquakes'.




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