6 ms·
The geology of the east coast makes earthquakes about ten times more intense (according to usgs) so this is similar to a west coast high five.
by ancientworldnow 2y ago
The geology of the east coast makes earthquakes about ten times more intense (according to usgs) so this is similar to a west coast high five.
- wilg 2y agoWhat does "intense" mean?
- nashashmi 2y agoThe shockwaves travel further. The 2011 earthquake was in Virginia and everyone felt it on the eastern seaboard. It was only 2.4 M too. Still.
- areyousure 2y agoIn case anyone was curious, the 2011 Virginia earthquake was magnitude 5.8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake
- nashashmi 2y agoYes. Thanks for the correction. I didn’t know
- dredmorbius 2y agoDo you have a link to share on that? I'm aware that Atlantic and mid-American quakes are felt over a much wider area than Left-coast temblors, because of the more-intact, less-fractured, largely limestone and granitic foundation bedrock (as opposed to a largely fractured sedimentary basement along the Pacific seaboard). But is the actual shaking intensity greater? AFAIU that's mostly affected by factors such as ground liquifaction, total ground water, and the like, which tend to be fairly strongly localised in effect. E.g., you can find seismic hazard maps of the SF Bay Area which show high-risk regions, largely on fill, reclaimed marsh, and sand dunes (e.g., the Marina, Financial District, SOMA, Sunset and Richmond districts of San Francisco), as opposed to bedrock (Twin Peaks, Potrero Hill). The former all amplify ground movement, the latter tend to shake far less. River bottom land and estuaries on the East Coast would similarly show higher seismic motion, but I'm not sure this carries over for the region as a whole.