Earthquake!

vansmack wrote:

Jaguar wrote:
I didn't say that I did and I qualified my post by stating that it 'seems'. I bet you don't have any absolutes about what's happening either.

Alaska, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico have hundreds (thousands in the case of AK) of tiny earthquakes each month.  Their fault lines are completely different than the fault line that slipped in Virginia.  The Central Virginia seismic zone along the James River has been considered dangerous for years, but activity on the San Andreas or any of the Rocky Mountain Faults lines would have absolutely nothing to do with that zone.

If anything, if they were related, releasing pressure on one fault would lessen the pressure on a related zone, not cause more.  Would you like me to keep going?

Hmm, yup.

I work in Columbia, MD and it rattled us pretty good.  Additionally, I work with a bunch of geologists and everyone got excited, half ran outside to watch stuff shake, the other half ran for instruments.

I've been trying to check in with family in Richmond and phones are out all over the area, so needless to say it caused some damage of some kind.

imbecile wrote:
I've been trying to check in with family in Richmond and phones are out all over the area, so needless to say it caused some damage of some kind.

Or is it just a data traffic jam?

Maybe your family decided this was a good time to ditch you once and for all?

Jaguar wrote:
Apparently, there's some sort of major inactive volcano in Colorado that could come into play.

Yes, most volcanoes are signs of where the asthenosphere (inner layer of the crust) has made it's way past the lithosphere (outer layer).  That usually occurs in cracks in the crust which is essentially what an earthquake is:  one piece of the crust striking or moving against another piece of the crust. 

However, a volcano 2,000 miles away erupting with lava and causing earthquakes will generally have no bearing on crust that far apart.

vansmack wrote:

Jaguar wrote:
Apparently, there's some sort of major inactive volcano in Colorado that could come into play.

Yes, most volcanoes are signs of where the asthenosphere (inner layer of the crust) has made it's way past the lithosphere (outer layer).  That usually occurs in cracks in the crust which is essentially what an earthquake is:  one piece of the crust striking or moving against another piece of the crust. 

However, a volcano 2,000 miles away erupting with lava and causing earthquakes will generally have no bearing on crust that far apart.

you know everything about cellphones . . . and earthquakes?  uhmm, who are you?  ???

walkonby wrote:
you know everything about cellphones . . . and earthquakes?  uhmm, who are you?   ???

I was 3 units away from having a geology minor (emphasis on seismology) in college.  I was then and still am fascinated by the science. 

smart people . . . are always the best in bed.

walkonby wrote:

vansmack wrote:

Jaguar wrote:
Apparently, there's some sort of major inactive volcano in Colorado that could come into play.

Yes, most volcanoes are signs of where the asthenosphere (inner layer of the crust) has made it's way past the lithosphere (outer layer).  That usually occurs in cracks in the crust which is essentially what an earthquake is:  one piece of the crust striking or moving against another piece of the crust. 

However, a volcano 2,000 miles away erupting with lava and causing earthquakes will generally have no bearing on crust that far apart.

you know everything about cellphones . . . and earthquakes?  uhmm, who are you?   ???

The Answer Man.

vansmack wrote:

Jaguar wrote:
Sure. Why not? I'm enjoying this. 

Here's your animated model from billions of years ago:

billions of years?  how many biblical days is that???

colorado had a 5.3 or so earthquake the other day.  the "super-volcano" in the mountain west is a caldera is that makes up most of yellowstone….the lovely geysers there are steams from the built up pressure under the earth.  the molten earth underneath yellowstone is caused from the subduction zone along the washington state coast where the pacific plate and the juan de fuca plate are driven under the north american plate- the melted crust turns to liquid hot magma.  that's also why the peaks in the cascades are either extinct or dormant volcanoes (e.g., lassen, shasta, hood, st. helens, and rainier, to name a few).

for the trivia and history buffs- the largest series of earthquakes in north america occurred in missouri in 1811-1812 along the mississippi river in new madrid, mo.

once upon a time i wanted to be a seismologist…..but there was math involved.

LOL @ the evacuations

Venerable wrote:

billions of years?  how many biblical days is that???

2, which is the same time that it took Noah to get the kangaroos on the Ark….

I didn't know what was going on.. took me a while to realize it might be a quake…out here we never get them…

Oh yeah, and be prepared for aftershocks for the next 24-48 hours.  They're usually just as much fun as the first one because (a) you're expecting them and (b) they're rarely as big.

walkonby wrote:
smart people . . . are always the best in bed.

Disagree.
Who would you rather bang, Stephen Hawking or Ronny from Jersey Shore?

Relaxer wrote:

walkonby wrote:
smart people . . . are always the best in bed.

Disagree.
Who would you rather bang, Stephen Hawking or Ronny from Jersey Shore?

i'd be up for discussions of particle accerleration theories through worm holes between rim jobs . . . over hearing ronny talk about how much he can bench or who he wants to beat up, any day.

Relaxer wrote:
Maybe your family decided this was a good time to ditch you once and for all?

Ha, I doubt it.  Not because they wouldn't ditch me, but because they're too lazy to go through this much effort to ditch me.

I'll go with Jags theory about the phones being jammed up from everyone calling everyone else freaking out.


Washington Post is reporting that the National Cathedral was damaged and a few other buildings around town.

just read that somebody claimed the washington monument was seen tilting . . . wow, if true!

Relaxer wrote:
Who would you rather bang, Stephen Hawking or Ronny from Jersey Shore?

i dunno - ronnie will give you all sorts of whining about "not being into this" and "i don't do that", "nice boys don't <insert sex act here>".  but with hawking… BOOYAH.

walkonby wrote:
just read that somebody claimed the washington monument was seen tilting . . . wow, if true!

Would be even funnier if it was at night and its evil red eyes were blinking.   :o  ;D
Could make for a fun War Of The Worlds scenario just sitting back and watching the tourists reactions.

I actually didn't feel a thing.  Although, things usually shake when I walk around so I'm used to it by now.

vansmack wrote:

Jaguar wrote:
Check this out.

You clearly know nothing about plate tectonics.&nbsp; &nbsp;

What is it about this message board that turns people into pompous a-holes who think they know everything and feel compelled to educate others when really their life experiences are very limited?  Where's that Julian fellow?

"You CLEARLY can't COMPREHEND the influence that the Pixies had on alternative music!"

Brian