EARTHQUAKE SHAKES EAST TENNESSEE THIS MORNING (3.3 on the Richter Scale)

WYCB ^ | 04/20/2010 | WYCB

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

Some East Tennessee residents have been jarred awake by an earthquake.

A preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake at 5:28 this morning had strength of 3.3 on the Richter Scale.

The quake was centered about five miles west-southwest of Maryville.

There are no reports of injury or damage, but said the agency received a lot of phone calls reporting the shake.

[Mom MD]

I think it is leading up to something REALLY BIG - something promised around 2000 years ago...

[jjsheridan5]

I woke up around 4:30 this morning with an uneasiness and a sense of impending doom. But then, I do that every morning.

LOL. One reason I'm curious is that when I was a kid I slept through the only earthquake I have been in (New Jersey, enough to knock a neighbor out of bed, supposedly). I remember being told that it was an extremely small quake (for some reason I seem to remember that it was a 2). I'm just wondering how big a quake has to be in that area to be felt.

[Red Badger]

Those scantly clad women in Iran caused it!

It would sure make me quake...............

[jjsheridan5]

Most are 2.0 or lower. I think the cut off for feeling it there is the high 2 range.

Thanks.

[dangus]

In principle, you are right about earthquake magnitudes not being directly comparable in different areas, at least according to the amount of damage they cause. Earthquakes in Chile, for instance, frequently occur under literally miles of mountain, resulting in dissipated surface effects. Earthquakes in areas filled in by softer, loose materials (Mexico City, Port-au-prince) can cause liquefaction, greatly increasing damage. Earthquake dampeners and superior building materials obviously make a lot of difference.

Still, comparing a 4 to a 7 is kind of hard to believe; the difference in magnitude is something like 20 or 30 thousand times. But a 4 to a 6, on the other hand is quite believable (a factor of 1000). But keep in mind, this is a 3.3, which is actually very far away from a 4 (20 fold?).

[Ingtar]

Warning: I’m no expert. :D

[jjsheridan5]

I think that the damage comparison was based on 3 things. One was that in the east you get more “rolling” as opposed to “shaking” (something about the stress on buildings is greater — obviously, I don’t remember this at all!!!). Second was that the range was greater. And third had to do with the fact that buildings aren’t constructed with earthquakes in mind.

So I don’t think it was really a comparison of the earthquakes themselves, more a comparison of the total amount of damage created.

[Wings-n-Wind]

Someone’s meth lab blew up...................

***************

Or......

Some still engineer miscalculated the boiling point...

methlab = the new "still" ....
either scenario fits.....

jmho....

[Dunstan McShane]

I'm just wondering how big a quake has to be in that area to be felt.

The last time I actually felt a quake in this area was sometime back in about 1985 or '86 or thereabouts. One Sunday afternoon, there was a sudden, noticeable bump under the house, as if it had been a car running over a medium-sized rabbit. I ran outside and asked my next-door neighbor (who was in his front lawn) if the earth had just bumped, and he looked at me as if I was crazy. Then the lady two doors down came out of her house and yelled, "Hey, Dunce--did your house just jump?"

"Sure did," I said.

"Whattaya think it was?" she asked.

"Earthquake, I bet," I said. Went back inside and turned on WBIR, which was reporting the quake. I think the magnitude was in the 4+ area, but it's been a long time, and I'm just not sure. About all that happened was that a couple of glasses fell off a shelf and broke somewhere in town.

I've been told that if you wake in the dark hours of the morning, you can sometimes hear the bedroom windows rattle faintly as a microquake gets to shuddering. Maybe that's why I often wake up betwen three and five, uneasy.

[chaos_5]

LOL 3.3 aint s***t!

[rintense]

To folks who’ve never been through one it is!

[vaudine]

This reminded me to check our earthquake ins. I added it a few years back for very little money, but my husband thought it not necessary. I just called our ins., and sure enough, when he changed it to another company, he took it off.I just added it back. Here in NW AL we are at the tag end of a fault line and have actually had a few tremors in the past.

I would really feel bad sitting in a house split in two by a quake and "so sorry, no coverage."

vudine

[Red Badger]

Those mountains didn’t get there by accident...............

[Red Badger]

Some former moonshiner’s meth lab blew up...................

[reformedliberal]

I have read that when there is vulcanism, such as in Iceland, that is caused by the spreading of a rift, there will be compensatory earthquakes caused by plates being pushed together elsewhere. No mention of the reverse being true.

The article also didn’t mention if there were calculable geographic relationships.

But, we live on a dynamic planet, so it isn’t really unexpected.

[Frogtacos]

Never fails, I move away from an area and they get a little quake. I gave birth to my son in Maryville, moved out of Friendsville last year. 5 miles WSW of Maryville is kinda inline between Friendsville and Greenback - there is an active quarry right there. The area has several inactive ones as well.