CodeRedR51
Premium
- 55,322
- United States
5.6 Magnatude Earthquake in Oklahoma - Felt in Texas
- Thread starter CodeRedR51
- 33 comments
- 2,785 views
CodeRedR51
Premium
- 55,322
- United States
I never said anything about global warming. 
- 11,985
- Australia
- I_Grayson_Fox_I
I never said anything about global warming.
I know, it was a response to "all these earthquakes this year?"
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
- 3,033
I'm not a geologist, lol. I do believe the earth's tectonics are like a bunch of giant inflatable rafts floating in a swimming pool.
When two rafts collide, that causes movement & eventually more rafts collide. They believe convection caused by the earth's core causes the initial movement of the plates. But your talking movement at the speed of human fingernail growth.
- 15,855
- QLD, Australia
- Small_Fryz
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
It's not unexpected, really, from a scientific perspective. The two big earthquakes in New Zeland and Japan would have caused significant movement in the crust, which has effects all around the globe. It's probably released or increased pressure in several other areas which is causing all these smaller quakes. It's a bit of a domino effect. Once the last domino has fallen, everything goes back to normal to a degree until the pressure builds high enough again.
I supposed you could call the frequency of larger quakes unusual, but not unexpected.
Regarding earthquake Richter scale ratings, 5.6 isn't huge - and there are probably 500 or so a year recorded at around that rating - but it's still the equivalent energy of over 2 million kilos of explosives going off at the epicenter and enough to do damage to built-up areas nearby. Christchurch's magnitude 6. something had roughly the same energy involved as the Hiroshima bomb. Japan's 9. something was about 1,800 billion kilograms of energy (source for all this by the way, May 11 issue of BBC Focus).
Each number up on the Richter scale is equivalent to ten times the power of the last number, and there are roughly ten times fewer per year as you go each number up too - there are about a million factor 2 earthquakes a year, 100,000 #3, 10,000 #4 etc. Magnitude 10s happen less frequently than every ten years (thankfully).
How "minor" an earthquake is considered depends on where you live, I guess. 5.6 wouldn't be too worrisome in Japan but in Texas or Oklahoma it's probably fairly unusual and a bit worrying when it happens.
Last edited:
Dotini
(Banned)
- 15,742
- Seattle
- CR80_Shifty
The quake felt in Oklahoma was the largest in its recorded history, according to the article cited by the OP. In the adjacent state of Arkansas there have been similar unprecedented quakes. http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2011/oct/28/small-earthquakes-recorded-near-quitman/
State geologists have put these recent quakes down to fracking. Fracking has accordingly been banned in Arkansas.
In the recent 5.8 Virginia quake felt over much of the eastern US, the felt intensity factor was quite high. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake
This was due to the nature of the very rigid plates involved. On the US west coast, already riven with fractures and previously broken up plates, it takes a much stronger quake for people to feel much of anything.
IMHO, it is premature to say exactly what "causes" and/or "triggers" earthquakes. It seems established that certain animals can sense them hours or even days ahead of time. In the great Japan quake and tsunamai of earlier this year, it was noted by NASA that there was an enormous resonating of the Earth's atmosphere and magnetosphere just prior to the quake. Thus was due to a large CME hitting Earth from the sun. I have seen science papers discussing magnetosphere/atmosphere/lithosphere coupling, so perhaps earthquakes, oddly, have an extraterrestrial component to them, as well as a human component from fracking?
Respectfully,
Steve
State geologists have put these recent quakes down to fracking. Fracking has accordingly been banned in Arkansas.
In the recent 5.8 Virginia quake felt over much of the eastern US, the felt intensity factor was quite high. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake
This was due to the nature of the very rigid plates involved. On the US west coast, already riven with fractures and previously broken up plates, it takes a much stronger quake for people to feel much of anything.
IMHO, it is premature to say exactly what "causes" and/or "triggers" earthquakes. It seems established that certain animals can sense them hours or even days ahead of time. In the great Japan quake and tsunamai of earlier this year, it was noted by NASA that there was an enormous resonating of the Earth's atmosphere and magnetosphere just prior to the quake. Thus was due to a large CME hitting Earth from the sun. I have seen science papers discussing magnetosphere/atmosphere/lithosphere coupling, so perhaps earthquakes, oddly, have an extraterrestrial component to them, as well as a human component from fracking?
Respectfully,
Steve
Brett
Premium
- 8,632
- Oklahoma
Yes. This is the second earthquake I have knowingly experienced. Just over a year ago, a 4.3 hit around five miles east of where I work. Though, I did know that Oklahoma is very active seismically, just on a scale that is typically very weak.
Oklahoma earthquke, not as uncommon as you think
Earthquake List for Map Centered on Yesterday's Earthquake
Accompanying Map for Above List
Finally, Oklahoma Record Setting Earthquake
Last edited:
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
I'm not saying I don't believe you, but do you have a source on that claim? Sounds a little far-fetched as a cause for an earthquake.
The Earth has quakes all the time (as above, a million a year of magnitude 2) and it's equally as likely that the Japanese quake was caused by up to thousands of years of pressure building where the Pacific plate subducts under the North American plate.
As far as animals detecting quakes beforehand, that could be down to a bunch of reasons. Maybe they notice very subtle pre-tremors, maybe they notice gases escaping from the subduction zone (radon isn't uncommon). It's just a pity there's no good, reliable way for humans to detect earthquakes before they happen yet.
Dotini
(Banned)
- 15,742
- Seattle
- CR80_Shifty
Yes sir, I have a source (or sources) for all the info I posted, but I'm a little hazy on exactly which point you'd like additional documentation? I tried to be careful not to make too much in the way of personal claims to knowledge.
There's no doubt in my mind that the primary cause of the great Japan quake is pressures building up below the surface. At this moment it is not totally proven that quakes can be triggered or released by human fracking, nor that coupling and resonating the magnetosphere with the lithosphere will actual trigger a quake, either.
It is worth mentioning that atmospheric glows (actually thought to be plasma discharges) have been seen and associated with earthquakes for hundreds of years, and many have been caught on video.
It was in an Italian town in 2009 when scientists studying toads were puzzled when the breeding toads unaccountably all ran away from their colony - about three days prior to a nearby earthquake. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8593000/8593396.stm
I'll retrieve the science paper and NASA info I think you might be interested in.
Respectfully,
Steve
Edit: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.72.6203&rep=rep1&type=pdf <--PDF file re coupling of lithosphere to magnetosphere
Edit II:
Spaceweather archives, March 2011:
March 7: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=07&month=03&year=2011
M-class flalr with Earth directed CME.
March 9: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=09&month=03&year=2011
New X-class flare
March 10: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=10&month=03&year=2011
CME impacts Earth 0630 UT
March 11: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=11&month=03&year=2011
Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME strike on March 10th.
March 12: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=12&month=03&year=2011
NASA Spaceweather editor issues disclaimer:
COINCIDENCES: Many readers have asked if this week's terrible earthquake in Japan was connected to the contemporaneous geomagnetic storms of March 10th and 11th. In short, no. There is no known, credible evidence of solar activity triggering earthquakes. Moreover, in the historical record, there are thousands of examples of geomagnetic storms without earthquakes, and similar numbers of earthquakes without geomagnetic storms. The two phenomena are not linked.
SUBSIDING STORMS: The geomagnetic storms of March 10th and 11th are subsiding. Earth's magnetic field began shaking on March 10th in response to a CME impact; the reverberations continued for more than 24 hours. In Sweden the auroras were so bright, they competed with campfires:
Another voice of NASA, the one actually operating the satellites and doing the science. They include playful poetry with hard science!
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/27jul_spacequakes/
Rumbles without sound
Auroras rain down
Magnetic fields shake
Beware the spacequake
Vortices swirl
plasma a'twirl
Richter predicts
a magnitude six
Edit III: some other stuff
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0012821X67900714
http://www.springerlink.com/content/buvw2tq081013210/fulltext.pdf?page=1
http://www.solarrainbook.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?page=Solar_Rain_Endorsements01.htm
http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/john-l-casey-the-solar-seismic-connection/
Edit IV:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=6015869
http://s15.zetaboards.com/Irish_Weather_Online/topic/7086399/1/
Last edited:
- 34,949
- Indian Falls, NY
- slashfan7964
No I've been wondering the same.
- 1,003
- GTP_hellnback
It's not unusual in any given year... just this year or last 18 months they've hit in populated instead of remote areas...
Unless you are talking specifically in the U.S.A... then I guess it's kinda the same but in a lesser degree, afterall the land area of the U.S.A is kinda BIG with alot of unpopulated wilderness... abit like if a tree falls in the forest and.... if a quake happens in nexttonowhere and nobody feels it...
Unless you are talking specifically in the U.S.A... then I guess it's kinda the same but in a lesser degree, afterall the land area of the U.S.A is kinda BIG with alot of unpopulated wilderness... abit like if a tree falls in the forest and.... if a quake happens in nexttonowhere and nobody feels it...
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
We get about 10 earthquakes a day here... Usually too small to feel. Really anything below 5-6 you may not notice it in many situations. That's how small it is...
I wouldn't worry about a few 5-6's in places that don't normally get them, these things happen. The earth is constantly shifting, so maybe places in the east and Midwest will start getting them more. Really nothing to worry about.. Earthquakes just shake stuff a little, and sometimes cause tsunamis but you don't have to worry about that in Oklahoma
. Clicky
Also...
Moar Clicks
351 Earthquakes in the last week. (California, Nevada, and the very north of Baja, and some of the Pacific) Yes its common here, but that's 351!
CodeRedR51
Premium
- 55,322
- United States
What I was really trying to point out is that there's been several "fairly large" earthquakes this year in not-so-common places. Like Virginia, Oklahoma and Colorado.
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
One of the sites mentioned before something along the lines of it being caused by ancient fault lines slipping as larger ones across the planet moved. We've had a couple of massive global quakes this year so it's likely shuffled plates all across the planet.
The Japan one alone moved the Earth's axis by about a foot and moved Japan about ten meters closer to the States, so you can bet that's changed stress levels in plates all across the planet, and not just at fault lines.
I suppose the main thing for people living in areas where quakes are less frequent is not to worry too much. They're unlikely to get above a certain level of power so unlikely to cause too many problems. If I was living in Oklahoma I'd be much more concerned about tornadoes, to be honest.
The Japan one alone moved the Earth's axis by about a foot and moved Japan about ten meters closer to the States, so you can bet that's changed stress levels in plates all across the planet, and not just at fault lines.
I suppose the main thing for people living in areas where quakes are less frequent is not to worry too much. They're unlikely to get above a certain level of power so unlikely to cause too many problems. If I was living in Oklahoma I'd be much more concerned about tornadoes, to be honest.
CodeRedR51
Premium
- 55,322
- United States
Brett
Premium
- 8,632
- Oklahoma
Tornadoes are not something to be overly concerned with in Oklahoma. The National Weather Service and local news channels are all over any weather activity that could potentially produce a tornado and because of that, there is typically more than enough time to take proper precautions. In fact, local news coverage tends to be more than a bit overbearing with their storm coverage and are probably overly cautious; though, better safe than sorry.
We get so much storm coverage, that a drinking game has been developed for storm coverage: Gary England Drinking Game.
We get so much storm coverage, that a drinking game has been developed for storm coverage: Gary England Drinking Game.
- 4,687
- Golden State
- xViLLaiNx12
5.6? That's adorable.
Not enough to cause damage, except to people's self-esteem due to any foolish overreaction. Just a fun shake that you get to talk about for a week. Maybe a poorly-balanced fell off the counter and broke?
I hope the cows enjoyed their foot massage!
Not enough to cause damage, except to people's self-esteem due to any foolish overreaction. Just a fun shake that you get to talk about for a week. Maybe a poorly-balanced fell off the counter and broke?
I hope the cows enjoyed their foot massage!
Similar threads
