Posted on 12/15/2006 5:27:29 PM PST by blam
Source: University of Kentucky
Date: December 14, 2006
Researchers Complete Seismic Borehole In Kentucky
Drilling has been completed on the deepest borehole for seismic instruments in the eastern U.S. The four-inch diameter hole for the Central U.S. Seismic Observatory (CUSSO), located at Sassafras Ridge in Fulton County, Kentucky, reached a depth of 1,948 feet, where bedrock was encountered.
The location is near the most active part of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, the source of at least three major earthquakes in the winter of 1811-12, before the region was heavily populated and developed. This location will allow instruments in the seismic hole to gather the maximum amount of data from the region's earthquakes for thorough evaluation of their effects on bedrock and soil and the resulting ground motions.
"Now that the well has been completed, our focus will be on getting instruments installed and collecting data vital to the region," says Jim Cobb, director of the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) and state geologist
The partners in the project, including the University of Kentucky, KGS, and several federal agencies, will now determine the type and number of instruments to place in the shaft and at what depths to place them.
Five partners involved in the project committed nearly $300,000 to the drilling project. Much of the funding came from the U.S. Department of Energy through the Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and Environment. The Department of Energy has an interest in the region's earthquakes due to uranium enrichment operations at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
Edward W. Woolery of UK's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Zhenming Wang of KGS led the effort to plan and secure funding for the project. The next step in the process of completing the project will involve a workshop sponsored by the partners to gather input about the instruments to be placed in the observatory. The partners will apply to agencies such as the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and other sources of funding for the purchase and installation of the instruments.
When instrumentation is completed, the observatory will be added to the Kentucky Seismic and Strong-motion Network, a series of monitoring stations operated by KGS and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
It will add new data on the origin, location, magnitude, and depth of earthquakes in this region to the information currently gathered by the network's 26 instruments.
Data collected will help geologists and engineers better define the earthquake hazard in the region. Knowing the hazard has implications for economic development in the region as well as specific applications for ongoing activities at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
Either this is bad reporting or these scientists are idiots.
Spending our tax money without a plan.
Ready, Shoot, ummmm Aim.
Well for one thing, they didn't know the precise soil and rock types in the hole at various depths until AFTER the hole was drilled - and that affects what instruments you put where.
Really, I mean....what is up with the rabid hatred of and contempt for scientists on FR? I mean the desperate search for any way to take potshots at ANY scientist, even when they're not doing or saying anything having to do with politics, amazes me.
Oh Lord, don't let the BIG ONE happen next week (grin).
In fact, if bedrock was not encountered until 1900 feet, that means we could probably dredge the Mississippi enough to turn it into a deep weather port, or bring back a Northern chunk of the Gulf of Mexico with a beach at Evansville, Indiana.
The possibilities are endless.
Remember, Freepers tend to distrust scientists who fail to claim have a commercial ambition. For them early warning of an earthquake swarm in the Midwest and Central South is not enough.
Oh get off your frickin high horse for once, Strategerist.
This was a 2000 foot well. Are you telling me that no well that DEEP has ever been drilled in that area?
You act like this is deep space exploration. I don't hate scientists. I work with them every day, and I have contempt for people who use my tax money without a plan, and I have no use for blowhards like you.
I love science of all kinds. Well, except for where they've chosen to make it a religion. Fortunately geologists have kept their science pretty pure.
I assume you were referring to me, correct?
Bedrock at 1900 feet - that's some mighty unstable soil come earthquake time if sand is involved. It would certainly be interesting to get a better picture of the underlying rock layer; this factoid would lend itself to the theory of a wide valley of soil overlaying a bedrock canyon of enormous size...
A question - will this soil "liquify" during an earthquake event? If so, St. Louis and any effected cities are in for a world of hurt.
1. Not in their congressional district or state ~ porkbarrel being desirable if and only if it's at home.
2. In a field of science they either don't know much about or don't care ~ Midwestern earthquake possibilities definitely make Westcoasters' eyes glaze over!
3. Something involving any claim by an ignorant reporter that there is no plan to use the information derived, or no plan to proceed beyond the latest step, or no plan whatsoever to do anything but spend more money. That is, we have too many Freepers yet who continue to believe what the MSM tell them.
So, no, not you in particular, but your reaction definitely fits the pattern ~ (now that I've read your post) ~
The discovery channel ran a show about the New Madrid earthquakes a while back. They were showing spots where sand had risen to the surface in sand boils or blows. There were some pretty drastic changes to the landscpe not to mention changing the course of the Mississippi in a matter of minutes.
Holy crap, 1900+ feet to bedrock? I worked on a water well drilling rig, and drilled caissons for deep foundations, mostly in new england, and 200' is about as deep as ew ever went before hitting rock. Never drilled many wells over 900' to get sufficient water.
That was a really great show.
Last time I looked, the Mississippi "rift" was something like 17 miles deep, filled with dirt washed in from the Appalachians over the ages.
It's dangerous to live next to a 17 mile deep hole anywhere!
I've read that the quake was so bad the windows in Chicago were broken and church bells in Boston rang.
In my career in the oil industry, I've probably been involved in the drilling of 25,000 wells or more. I'm not sure. I've never kept track.
In none of those did we not know what to expect or did we not have a plan before we drilled the wellbore.
So, if I fit your stereotype of a dumb rube when it comes these matters, I'd like to know your credentials.
I sent you e-mail about this moments ago.
Anyone who reads Discover, Science, Science News, New Scientist or Scientific American, or even the Science column in the New York Times on Sundays knows everything there is to know about this hole from the day it was first proposed, to the detailed planning, to this completion of the bore itself.
I recall the boreholes drilled in California along the San Andreas and Hayward Fault zones were also subject to criticism on the same basis as this one.
I think the church bell story involves the Charleston quake not the San Andreas. Remember, the New Madrid fault zone is West of the Appalachians and the vast number of faults in that area attentuate the waves to the East of the Appalachians.
Is Science Daily the MSM?
Where can I get the real scoop on this project that refutes the reporting here? I'd love the link.
"A question - will this soil "liquify" during an earthquake event? If so, St. Louis and any effected cities are in for a world of hurt."
Have you ever read an account of the 1811 New Madrid earthquake? There are accounts online where they talk about sand spouts hundreds of feets high. They say Memphis will be toast (sunken toast) if they have another.
The New Madrid Fault could go at any time, or, not for 20,000 years.
Is it as big a fault as San Andreas?
Or bigger?
It could not have been the 1811-1812 New Madrid quakes that broke windowpanes in Chicago; the city wasn't founded until 1833.
Well, it shouldn't.
40 years ago scientists were.. well, scientists, and they kept their mouths shut outside of their field of expertise.
Now, the phrase "some scientists say" is meaningless; literally. A joke.
Too many "scientists" have become like movie stars. They feel that their little niche makes them experts in everything.
From my perspective, it is time to tell the loudest ones, "Shut up and do science; Discover something beneficial; invent something useful. Figure out how to control the sun".
< /sarc >
Keep us Californians out of this thread! We've got enough headaches as it is!!
(I can see the San Andreas fault line from where I live - about 15 miles across the valley, and the percolation from it allows a "greenbelt" line of native palm trees)
Climatologists have made a real mockery of science.
A few weeks back there was a debate about global warming on FOX. The non believer spoke of ice cores, the little ice age and other assorted evidence. When it was the believers turn to talk he launched into a rant about a GOP controlled congress, fringe scientists, and extremist congressmen.
17 MILES deep ? That can't be possible, that's beyond the upper depth of the Earth's mantle.
This earthquake was preceded by three other major quakes: two on December 16, 1811, and one on January 23, 1812.
When it happens again......*shudder*
It won't be pretty.
I know, I was freepmailing you when I heard the "ding" noise and checked my email, from you.
I actually mentioned what a small world it is in my freepmail, and quit typing the FM to answer your email, and you said the same thing.
Next week should be very interesting, thanks in large part to your input.
Wow.
So, how deep is North America? (Just going from memory on that depth ~ may even be 7 miles ~ but you have to remember the continents do not have an even depth ~ maybe you can look it up for us)
That was an interesting program. I noticed that they claimed the New Madrid quake was the largest to ever strike the US. Then, a few weeks later I saw a documentary about the Alaska quake and they said it was the largest. So...
Alaska was still Russian territory when the New Madrid quake happened.
I know. The Alaska quake was in 1964, my oldest brother (bless his soul)was there when it occurred.
It's about that 20 seconds.
Did you think earthquakes are measley little things or something?
Instead, he peddled the pap in the MSM piece to the effect these guys had no plan.
We don't need to go to FR to hear stupidity from the MSM.
What he should have added was what the scientists had planned to do and how that plan would procede (if he's a great borehole scientist as he claimed).
Right now he's just another oil guy upset over what he sees as a dry hole! World's full of 'em.
Shoot. . it looks like Madrid has Tennessee about ready to get cut out on each side (west and east) and sunk in the big old hidey hole in the globe. I'm right in the middle of it.
Not sure, I was trying to find out more on the Reelfoot Rift (being in Nashville, I'm close enough that damage would occur here - the "red" zone), but I can't seem to find any definitive depth info.
hmm, that's a bit deeper than the bedrock on your place, isn't it? :-)
Average depth of the earth's crust is about 30 miles.
*snrk*
You've refused to answer my question about whether Science Daily is the MSM, or provide me a link to the source that shows where these folks using your tax money have a clue.
But you continue to trash me.
I don't know what your problem is, but at least argue with some facts.
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