6.4 Quake Strikes California ...

Gatekeeper · December 22, 2003, 15:26

... don't know much more as of now ... just broke on the wires and CNN.

Gatekeeper

Japher · December 22, 2003, 15:27

Yeah, I have wine on the fridge... I need to go home and make sure the dog ain't getting drunk

...

Dis · December 22, 2003, 15:28

I sometimes feel quakes in Nevada if they are close enough. I didn't feel anything.

I think this was closer to San Fransisco than LA. So no way would I feel it.

Ned · December 22, 2003, 15:30

That! was big. The shaking and rocking went on for 30 seconds or more!

Inverse Icarus · December 22, 2003, 15:31

thank god you guys were on orange alert!

VIGILIANCE > NATURE.

Dis · December 22, 2003, 15:32

6.5 they are saying now.

They are saying it is close to LA now. I usually can't tell unless the quake is east of LA- this may have been North.

Japher · December 22, 2003, 15:32

The terrorist have the technology to make earthquakes!!!

Gatekeeper · December 22, 2003, 15:32

They've upped it to a 6.5 on the Richter scale ... epicenter 7 miles from San Simeon.

I didn't feel anything. Then again, I'm in the Upper Midwest, in the middle of the North American tectonic plate.

Gatekeeper

Japher · December 22, 2003, 15:33

It was in Cambria, North of San Luis Obispo; Hearst Castle

Ned · December 22, 2003, 15:34

It struck 35 miles North of San Luis Obisbo. That is about 250 miles from here, if I recon correctly. Still, is was really rolling here.

Dis · December 22, 2003, 15:37

yep I was just in that region 2 months ago. San Luis Obisbo and another seaside town.

Gatekeeper · December 22, 2003, 15:37

I wonder when the aftershocks will begin? Hopefully they won't be too severe ... but then again, sometimes they're worse than the original quake itself.

st_swithin · December 22, 2003, 15:44

Perhaps it is a harbinger of things to come...

Or perhaps it is merely flatus tectonics - a little gas disguised as a heart attack.

We've had cleansing fires in San Diego and a quake in SLO - should be be prepared for some plagues of pestilence? I just want to know if I should ask for duct tape and plastic sheets for Xmas.

Gatekeeper · December 22, 2003, 16:06

Actually, quakes like this are supposed to good in the long run, because it's thought that they allow the earth to let off a little "steam," which, in turn, prevents or delays the "Big One."

Gatekeeper

MrFun · December 22, 2003, 16:14

OMG

NEWS!!

An earthquake ocurred in California -- of all places!

Dis · December 22, 2003, 16:17

actually Virginia just had a earth quake recently. I was shocked. I never felt one when I live there. I think it was more in the central part of the state I believe.

Even New York city can get earth quakes.

There are only 2 states in the nation that do not have fault lines in them (I believe North Dakota is one of them). Do they put the nuclear waste there? No, instead they choose a part of Nevada that is close to some huge fault lines in California, and many small ones in Nevada.

Spec · December 22, 2003, 16:19

Anything destroyed?

Spec.

Sarxis · December 22, 2003, 16:24

I really hope not- makes for sucky Xmas.

Ned · December 22, 2003, 16:37

No damage here. But folks closer must have had damage.

Dis · December 22, 2003, 16:43

This is weird.

I was in that same exact spot 2 months ago with my Aunt. And my Aunt just had a stroke today

. Kind of creepy in a way- but I guess it's just a coincidence.

Gatekeeper · December 22, 2003, 16:43

40,000 without power ... which, really, in the grand scheme of thigns, isn't much. Tell me when a 9.5 quake strikes. Now that would be news, 'cause there ain't anything built to withstand a quake of that magnitude (I admit to not knowing if quake-reinforced building can stand up to a 9.5 ... I thought it was up to an 8 or 8.5).

Gatekeeper

Dis · December 22, 2003, 16:44

it goes up exponentially. I would think a 9.5 quake would destroy the entire planet!!

Darsnan · December 22, 2003, 18:04

Anyone hear from Oerdin since this happened? The post he was at - Ft. Hunter-Liggette, is very close to the epicenter.

D

Dis · December 22, 2003, 18:05

I have no idea where that is, but if he has no electricity, he won't be able to post.

Sava · December 22, 2003, 18:20

did California sink into the ocean yet?

if not... DAMNIT

Dis · December 22, 2003, 18:25

I'm waiting. I want my desert property to turn into beachfront property. I'll be rich!

st_swithin · December 23, 2003, 16:36

With my luck, California wouldn't sink - Los Angeles would slide up next to San Francisco and the ensuing culture clash would spark a mini-civil war.

WhiteBandit · December 23, 2003, 22:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Actually, quakes like this are supposed to good in the long run, because it's thought that they allow the earth to let off a little "steam," which, in turn, prevents or delays the "Big One."

Gatekeeper

Nope.

The Big One is supposed to occur on a completely different fault system (San Andreas). The San Simeon quake that happened yesterday wasn't on the San Andreas.

The current predictions pin the mystical "Big One" to be roughly an 8.1 on the moment magnitude scale. If the 6.5 that happened in San Simeon was located on the San Andreas, it wouldn't of released any energy for the Big One!

Basically, you all probably know the scales geologists use to measure earthquakes is logrithmic. An increase in magnitude by a whole number represents a 30-fold increase in energy released. So a 7.0 releases 30 times as much energy as a 6.0. An 8.0 releases 900 times as much energy as 6.0!! So we would need roughly 900 of those 6.0's to equal the energy stored up for an 8.0! As you can see, one "measily" 6.0 wouldn't let off any steam at all.

However, this quake did not happen on the San Andreas, it happened on another fault system (at this point I'm not sure which one, looking at a geologic map, it looks like it was within the "Nacimiento Fault Zone").

The San Andreas Fault actually crosses right behind my school (Cal State San Bernardino) and we do quite a bit of research on it. I just worked on a project last week where we were studing Elastic Rebound Theory in which we used GPS equipment to track movement across a variety of faults in Southern California.

A 1mb Flash File (zipped up) is located here that talks about Elastic Rebound Theory. Anyway, interesting stuff!

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/research/de...files/grid.zip

On a positive note, it is a miracle more people weren't killed or injured since this happened in the middle of the day and was still quite a powerful earthquake. This 6.4 quake in Turkey killed 147! So at the same time it is a testiment to many of our building codes.

Your resident geologist

,

WB