Looks like there were a couple of them.
This from the seismograph near my home in Utah.
Yellowstone has a lot of quakes but mostly minor.
Here is where you can go to monitor them.
and here is the seismograph from mammoth hot springs:
Posted on 10/21/2002 11:02:28 PM PDT by prisoner6
MetroSource news reports a quake in Wyomning. Early estimates put center near Jackson and 4.4. NO word of damage or injuries.
43n, 110w shallow depth. prisoner6
prisoner6
Here's a link to the Quake sheet from Drudge...
prisoner6
I live in California. When we have 7.5 quakes, the damage seems to be mostly local to the epicenter. But when the New Madrid last broke loose, church bells in Boston rang as a result.
Evidently the plate movement involved when the New Madrid fault breaks loose, is massive.
It occurs to me that there are a number of natural disasters that seem to be overdue. In reality the occurance of one of them, could set off a chain reaction of sorts.
I've seen recent reports on some of these. They were quite interesting.
1. Super-Tsunami
2. New Madrid Fault
3. San Andreas Fault
4. The Yellowstone Super-Volcano.
The physical pressures that any of these would create, could quite easily trigger one or more of the others.
You may be technicly correct with your comments regarding specific strengths with these quakes, however, letters circa the period when the New Madrid fault last broke, do show significant shaking as far away as Boston, hence the bell ringing. With this in mind, I believe it is reasonable to consider wide-spread damage should the New Madrid break loose.
Because of the increased populace, the relative earthquake standards employed for new buildings, I'd still fear more from a New Madrid quake. But if your new references to 800-1000 years frequencies are correct, that would put things in a new perspective.
Seismology and Geology seem to create more pseudoscientific garbage than any other science besides medicine.
Please find me a peer-reviewed scientific paper stating the San Andreas can set off New Madrid, or Yellowstone, or that (a laughable concept) a tsunami could set
off any of the above?
13 posted on 10/21/02 11:28 PM Pacific by John H K
In all fairness, don't dump on the seismological/geological community for my musings. To my knowledge they don't support these conclusions at all. I'm not even convinced of them myself.
Elevated activity along the Ring of Fire, puts the geological community on notice that an elevated number of events may occur throughout the chain. Tectonic plate movements can be considered to be related. If the San Andreas goes postal, the regions around it may be effected. Perhaps the buldge in Oregon could break loose. Perhaps it may break loose first and influence the San Andreas.
Could these events influence submerged pressures on the Yellowstone area? I don't think it's totally out of the question. Is it a definate? Certainly not.
As for a super-tsunami affecting the New Madrid fault, I don't think that is out of the question. I recently saw an explanation of the super-tsunami. One of the prime candidates to spark such an event is an island off the coast of Africa. There is a fisure cutting through the entire island. The section that seems to be moving, is poised to drop off into the Atlantic. Conditions are such that half the island could slip into the ocean in a single slide. If this occurs, there is a real possibility of a super-tsunami hitting the east coast of the United States. The resulting wave could be over 1000 feet high. It would strike all the way from the tip of Florida to the northern reaches of Maine.
The tectonic plates plates that influence the New Madrid fault, include the whole eastern seaboard which is moving slowly westward in the New Madrid direction. If the New Madrid area had gained enough pressure to be close to new slippage, could the weight of a massive wall of water hitting the eastern seaboard set it off? Perhaps not. Can that be said catergoricly? I don't think so.
It is reasonable to consider these relationships? I think so. Should people be holding their breath and freaking out over any of it? I don't think so.
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