BSWIFT

Sponsoring Member
N. Texas SP
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 25, 1999
7,926
43
For several years, I've followed earthquakes at this site: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/
Commonly known as the ring of fire, the view daily shows how the tectonic plates are moving and relieving stress(earthquakes). I have no background in geology but the trend that I have seen is an increase in activity on the east side of the Pacific Plate.
From Chili to Alaska, acivity has been steady. Recent acitivity near Yellowstone(most likely volcanic) is showing more and more frequently. Even a predomenantly inactive fault area like the New Madrid zone has shown an increase in activity. While many people are terrified at the thought of being in a tornado, I'm curious to what types of preperation, if any, you have made for likelyhood of a major earthquake on the left coast?
The other site that I check is on valcanic activity but this site changes very little and information on volcanic activity hits the news quickly regardless of what part of the world it is in.
 

whenfoxforks-ruled

Old MX Racer
~SPONSOR~
Oct 19, 2006
8,129
2
Merrillville,Indiana
I have not been checking lately. I was truly amazed when I first ran across that site. Did you catch the abnormally large waves hitting Hawaii? That would be a good method of causing a land slide, tsunami and bye bye west coast?
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,774
0
Not sure there is a lot that can be done to prepare for a large event besides not be there :)
 

Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
Been watching that site for over nine years. Since I live in Shakytown and almost on top of the Elsinore fault, I am very interested in earthquakes. We have about 300 to 500+ earthquakes per day here in Cali. Most of them are too small to feel. OH! I think we are having one right now! :ohmy: Never mind. It was just my breakfast moving. ;)

Aside from the New Madrid fault there is also a fault that runs through the city of New York that has the potential of causing major damage.

Swifty, check out this site, www.syzygyjob.com Go to Frank Condon's forum. He has developed a method of predicting earthquakes by measuring the acoustic emissions from the breaking rock in the earth prior to an earthquake. He has found that quartz rock, deep in the earth, starts to break up a few days prior to a major earthquake. When it does this, it emits small radio type of signals from the earth. Similar to a quartz crystal radio set. He has developed tools for measuring these signals and can predict an earthquake within a day or so. He is very accurate with his predictions.

He can tell you when an earthquake will strike but he still can't pin down the exact location. Although, he gets very close. There are a lot of kooks in the other forums on that site but Franks forum is pretty straight-up.

The biggest danger in the Ring-of-Fire is volcanic. Many volcanos are ready to blow including Yellowstone. If that one blows, we are all in trouble.

HANG ON!!!! I think we're havin' another one! :yikes:
 

Shaw520

Damn Yankees
LIFETIME SPONSOR
May 14, 2000
1,082
6
oldguy said:
who could predict earthquakes based on amount of oil brought to the surface :

Synethic or Petroleum ?

This's interesting stuff,.. just for discussion purposes, here's my own theory, If the plates are moving they're continuing to relieve pressure, and keeping things relatively stable,.. its when they stop moving, (ie hung-up) that's when all hell could let loose. :whoa:
 

BSWIFT

Sponsoring Member
N. Texas SP
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 25, 1999
7,926
43
Thanks for the link! I'll have to add that to my Fav's. I've just been really curious since 1989. The overwhelming amount of information available today is mind boggling.
 

whenfoxforks-ruled

Old MX Racer
~SPONSOR~
Oct 19, 2006
8,129
2
Merrillville,Indiana
Other than asteroids hitting us, the mega tsunami has to be second worst. Then the volcano, then earthquake for catastrophic damage. Both of them are capable of causing the mega wave is the real kicker. There has been some really good HD shows on that were not all tree hugger crap. I was shocked to say the least! That Madrid fault would sure test a lot of areas that are not anywhere close to being constructed for such events. Sweet home Chicago for one. http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
 
Last edited:

Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
oldguy said:
We used to have a member here on DRN who could predict earthquakes based on amount of oil brought to the surface and the resultant lack of lubrication to the tectonic plates :)

I remember her oldguy. Cali with a K. What a piece of work she was. :coocoo:

Foxforks.

You are correct about Chicago. If the New Madrid goes off, Chicago would be devastated with all of its brick buildings. Masonry buildings don't do very well in an earthquake. The last time they had a quake on the New Madrid fault it made the Mississippi river run backwards for a few days. Of course, there were no skyscrapers back then so the human toll was not as great as it would be today.

Here in California, most of the buildings have been retrofitted to rock and roll with the quakes rather than fall down. Some of the really tall skyscrapers are actually built on rollers. Most all of the brick buildings have already fallen down in previous quakes. Plus, here in Cali, most of the houses are stick built. They tend to move about and flex with the quakes rather than fall down.

Also, there is a bigger danger of a tsunami on the East coast due to a large part of an island that is slipping and ready to sluff off and fall into the ocean. I can't remember the name of the island but they said if it falls into the ocean it could cause 20+ foot waves to hit New York City.

Shaw.

That is pretty much what happens before a major quake. As long as the faults are moving and readjusting, there are not any major quakes. As soon as the smaller quakes stop, the pressure starts to build and then over a two or three day period, we will start to get mag 4 or 5 quakes along the faults. These usually lead up to a 6 or 7 mag quake. The faults actually start to let loose slowly over a pierod of several days with rock crushing deep in the earth. They take a while to work to the surface.

If you follow all of this stuff, earthquakes are pretty easy to predict. The USGS won't even try to predict earthquakes for fear of being wrong. Their theory is, if they predict an earthquake and it doen't happen, the public won't listen to them the next time. Better to let a bunch of people die than be wrong I guess.

Earthquakes are just the planets way of letting us know who's really in charge. :nod: And it ain't us. :whoa:

CORRECTION: We get 300 to 500+ earthquakes per week in California and Nevada, not per day.
 
Last edited:

oldguy

Always Broken
Dec 26, 1999
9,419
0
Foxforks you may be correct at least until Yellowstone decides to let loose. That will be one that could wipe out a lot of north America and a good portion of Europe from the debris

Actually I guess it is really the volcanic part of Yellowstone and not the earthquake
 

SVTMc-G

Member
Apr 1, 2006
368
0
Haven't they said that even though Yellowstone is ready to pop.....they still have no clue when that will happen? I remember a tv special on the subject, and the window of when it could blow was VERY wide. That would sure get ugly.

The city I live in; Evansville, IN; is right smack dab on a major fault line. I wanna say it's the New Madrid as well. I can't recall exactly. We've had warnings of a BIG one for a long time. People we're down right terrified in the 80's. It's scary...but there's not really much you can do but remember that momma nature IS the one in charge. I live in an area here called "Reitz Hill". It's a really big hill overlooking the city. Geologists have said its the safest spot in our area. good to know I guess!!
 

whenfoxforks-ruled

Old MX Racer
~SPONSOR~
Oct 19, 2006
8,129
2
Merrillville,Indiana
20 footers on the east coast for sure would cause issues. The theorized tsunami that COULD start from a landslide in Hawaii would be a heck of a lot bigger! Thats why It sparked something in the backside of the brain when I seen the inexplicable 30+ footers hitting Hawaii. I sure would like a big screen, parked on that world seismic graph I linked to, with updates!
 

BSWIFT

Sponsoring Member
N. Texas SP
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 25, 1999
7,926
43
Seems that this topic is relevant again.
 

whenfoxforks-ruled

Old MX Racer
~SPONSOR~
Oct 19, 2006
8,129
2
Merrillville,Indiana
Is Baja still attached? Anyone heard from Porkchop? He may have fell off his bed? The 7.0 was soso, and I believe the tv is reporting higher, but only 10 miles deep, wonder how much those buildings shook in LA and San Diego? Hold on tight! Vintage Bob
 

Ol'89r

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 27, 2000
6,961
45
High Lord Gomer said:
Wow!
89R.....RUN!!

It was a pretty good one. :nod: Shook for about 30 seconds or longer at my house. More of a rolling action than a shaker. I was upstairs at the time which seems to intensify the shaking. No damage.

My wife was in the bathroom with her hair dryer going and said, other than feeling a little off balance, she didn't even really notice it.

The epicenter was in an area where several faults, Elsinore, Laguna Salada and San Andreas all come together.

Good thing you didn't have to go to Sandy Eggo this weekend Mike. :yikes: ;)
 

_JOE_

~SPONSOR~
May 10, 2007
4,697
3
I've seen a few good shows on Discovery about plate movement and earthquakes, interesting stuff.

The volcanic stuff is what's rally scary. Yellowstone is a disaster waiting to happen. And Hawaii, I didn't realize that's just a pile of rusty metal riding on sand. Giant pieces have fallen off causing massive waves in the past and it could happen again tomorrow........
 

oldguy

Always Broken
Dec 26, 1999
9,419
0
I just talked to a uy that was at Camp Pendelton for his sons graduation and he said as they were heading to the plane it started rolling. He could tell the californians as they just kept walking while everyone else struggled for balance andhad paniced looks on their faces
 

Porkchop

~SPONSOR~
Apr 27, 2001
341
0
Yesterday 3:39 pm,I was seated in my workshop, yacking on the phone with my pal Dago when I felt like I was on the lake in our boat. I mentioned the quake to my pal & it was about 10 seconds later that he felt it & his wife heard it, whilst standing out side. They live 35 miles due north of my location, literally on top of the san andreas fault.
Everything is ok here for now, however socal is over due for another big one. The last big one here was in 94, it destroyed the I-5 corridor in the Newhall Pass & a large part of Northridge, Ca. I heard of a story yesterday, from a motorist travelling from San Felipe north to Mexicali, who saw liquefaction while it was occurring, most who see this don't live to tell the tale, ( big cracks in the roadway & surrounding terrain, that opened up after the quake with massive volumes of water surfacing out of the ground).
I have been in many quakes, 1971 Sylmar(6.1), 1981 Mammoth (6.4), 1987 Whittier Narrows (5-6?), 1994 Northridge ( originally reported at 7.1 then down rated for some unknown reason to 6.5, go figure?) Northridge was by far the most violent of them all, massive lateral shaking with vertical movement, I was bounced what seemed like a foot or so straight up out of bed. Not fun at all....
All of this is a reminder that our building codes are only a minimum requirement when designing & constructing a building. Build dense & strong, with lots of steel, thru bolted sections, over kill foundations, over sized post & beam type framing & so on..
R.V.s & dirt bikes are very useful when we have disasters that earthquakes can cause. :think:
Best Regards, Porkchop

P.S. our location is aprox 350 mile to the epicenter of yesterdays quake, not felt violently here but some substantial movement.
Cal tech reported the epicenter as 125 miles south east of T.J. That places it very near a location known as Laguna Hansen, It's in a range of large mountains that runs north-south in the middle of the baja peninsula. I hope that mikes sky rancho is still standing, It's another 125 miles south of that location.
 
Last edited:

whenfoxforks-ruled

Old MX Racer
~SPONSOR~
Oct 19, 2006
8,129
2
Merrillville,Indiana
Baja and So, Cal. are still attached. I am glad to hear Porkchop, and anyone else living in paradise are safe! The pool tsunami was unreal. But, the cracks keep coming. Sumatra is humming again, the ring of fire, I have been real curious how many people think its safe to move back near the beaches. The 7.8 was close, being deeper saved them this morning! Vintage Bob
 

holeshot

Crazy Russian
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 25, 2000
1,823
0
Somehow, I didn't feel this one (probably napping at the time). I kinda remember waking up to a car alarm.

:whoa:
 
Top Bottom