woah. .. an earthquake. . .in alabama!?

[madmallard]

at about 5:00am, the southeast got a wakeup call it wasnt used to. .

a 4.9 with a magnitude radius of over 150 miles, felt in north and northwest GA, northeast AL, and Southwest TN.

anyone else ponder something catastrophic? I actually thought to myself in a sleepy state: "Hmmm, can't be thunder. . .its lasting too long. . mus be an earthquake. . .wonder if the world is ending?" At which point i rolled over and went back to sleep. . .

[EarthCurrent]

at about 5:00am, the southeast got a wakeup call it wasnt used to. .

a 4.9 with a magnitude radius of over 150 miles, felt in north and northwest GA, northeast AL, and Southwest TN.

anyone else ponder something catastrophic? I actually thought to myself in a sleepy state: "Hmmm, can't be thunder. . .its lasting too long. . mus be an earthquake. . .wonder if the world is ending?" At which point i rolled over and went back to sleep. . .

The Mississippi cranton is prone to midcontinental earthquakes of reasonable size. Unlike quakes that are experienced in California, midcontinental quakes are not direcly attributed to the frictional boundaries between two techtonic plates, but rather the enormous pressures associated with the the surrounding land mass results in stress fracturing.

In 1811, in New Madrid MO, what most seismologist assume to be America's largest earthquake in American history struck. It is assumed to have had a richter force somewhere in the mid 8s. The force of the quake was such that it 'caused church bells to to ring as far away as Boston...

[Lyrs]

Not surprising. There is a mountain range Nearby.

/end

[SnhKnives]

And i slept right through it!! woo hoo

[EarthCurrent]

Not surprising. There is a mountain range Nearby.

/end

It was a good connection, but despite what you think it isn't related--directly .

There is really no active mountain building process in that region. Alabama's mountains are remnants of the the Appalachian orogeny which ended about 200 million years ago. Since that time, the mountains have been slowly eroding down to their cores.
The main geologic process at work then in the region is erosion and deposition.
Now the Missippippi and its tributaries have been laying down sediment in the middle of the North American Continent for several hundred million years--material from Appalachian and much later the Rockies. As layers built up, the wieght of the continental crust increased and, much like an iceberg, stabilized itself by sinking, with most of the continental root plunging into the mantle. Depending on region there is between 2 to 3 kilometers worth of sedimentary rock underlying the central U.S. Now as I meantioned earlier, all this weight puts tremdous pressure on the underlying rocks in the region, and when their is faulting, earthquakes occur.

[shadow-the-hedgehog]

Someone was awake durning geology...

[Hoeya]

So what your saying is that because of the tremendous pressure, parts of Alabama sank a little bit. Unless I misunderstood what you just said.

[EarthCurrent]

So what your saying is that because of the tremendous pressure, parts of Alabama sank a little bit. Unless I misunderstood what you just said.

Due to the weight of the sediment being laid down, portions sink in order to maintain isostaticity, however, there is actually an increase in altitude simply because of balance issues. The Mid-continetal Seaway that once ran the length of the North American continent was eliminated in part because of this process of sedimentary buildup and elevation rise.

[MAS PRODUCTIONS]

at about 5:00am, the southeast got a wakeup call it wasnt used to. .

a 4.9 with a magnitude radius of over 150 miles, felt in north and northwest GA, northeast AL, and Southwest TN.

anyone else ponder something catastrophic? I actually thought to myself in a sleepy state: "Hmmm, can't be thunder. . .its lasting too long. . mus be an earthquake. . .wonder if the world is ending?" At which point i rolled over and went back to sleep. . .

The Mississippi cranton is prone to midcontinental earthquakes of reasonable size. Unlike quakes that are experienced in California, midcontinental quakes are not direcly attributed to the frictional boundaries between two techtonic plates, but rather the enormous pressures associated with the the surrounding land mass results in stress fracturing.

In 1811, in New Madrid MO, what most seismologist assume to be America's largest earthquake in American history struck. It is assumed to have had a richter force somewhere in the mid 8s. The force of the quake was such that it 'caused church bells to to ring as far away as Boston...

The thing I loved most about that quake in 1811 was the fact that it actually reversed the Mississippi and the water was said to boil. Quite interesting if you ask me.

[GoldenGundam]

at about 5:00am, the southeast got a wakeup call it wasnt used to. .

a 4.9 with a magnitude radius of over 150 miles, felt in north and northwest GA, northeast AL, and Southwest TN.

anyone else ponder something catastrophic? I actually thought to myself in a sleepy state: "Hmmm, can't be thunder. . .its lasting too long. . mus be an earthquake. . .wonder if the world is ending?" At which point i rolled over and went back to sleep. . .

The Mississippi cranton is prone to midcontinental earthquakes of reasonable size. Unlike quakes that are experienced in California, midcontinental quakes are not direcly attributed to the frictional boundaries between two techtonic plates, but rather the enormous pressures associated with the the surrounding land mass results in stress fracturing.

In 1811, in New Madrid MO, what most seismologist assume to be America's largest earthquake in American history struck. It is assumed to have had a richter force somewhere in the mid 8s. The force of the quake was such that it 'caused church bells to to ring as far away as Boston...

Further...Southwestern Maine.