Earthquake Rattles Southwest Virginia
Earthquake Rattles Southwest Virginia (Added: August 15, 2009)
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Earthquake Rattles Southwest Virginia
The earth moved in Southwest Virginia on Friday morning, but experts with the East Tennessee State University GeoSciences Department say it’s nothing be shaken up about.
“We don’t get large ones,” explained Dr. Mick Whitelaw, “but we get lots of little ones that most people don’t even know are occurring.”
Small quakes, registering between 1.0 and 3.0 on the Richter Magnitude Scale are so prevalent in this area it has been designated as The East Tennessee Seismic Zone by the U.S. Geological Survey.
But people from the epicenter about four miles from Nickelsville, Virginia all the way to Blountville, Tennessee knew this quake occurred.
Westley Ketron felt the 2.9 magnitude temblor rattle through his Blountsville home. “There was moderate shaking of the walls and objects in the house,” said Ketron.
People in Nickelsville reported hearing the quake rather than feeling it. Darrel Brit described hearing a tremendous boom at the time the U.S.G.S. recorded the tremor at 9:48 am. "Felt like a bomb went off! I ran out on the porch to see if there was a mushroom cloud."
No cloud, and no damage either. That boom was unusual for a quake so small in magnitude according to Whitelaw, but the movement of the earth will produce what amounts to a sonic boom, similar to the passing of a jet airplane.
“When you have a lot of fault plane move at one time, and move at seismic speed, close enough to the speed of sound it can generate a boom,” said Whitelaw.
Tennessee is due for a major earthquake at some point, but that will come along the New Madrid fault that runs through Memphis. Whitelaw says we’ll feel that when it happens, but the solid rocky ground beneath Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee, coupled with the age of the mountains along the eastern half of the United States means we are not subject to a quake that would produce major damage here.
Explains Whitelaw, “We have lot’s of little faults and every once in a while they’ll activate and wiggle a little and we’ll feel it like we did today.”
It’s just an occasional reminder of the power of the constantly moving earth beneath our feet.
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