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Virginia Earthquake Recorded at Weston Observatory August 23, 2011

Magnitude 5.8 VIRGINIA Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 17:51:04 UTC There were no reported deaths, and scattered reports of minor injuries. Air and train traffic was disrupted across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Two nuclear plants in Virginia were immediately taken offline after the earthquake. An earthquake in central Virginia was felt across much of the East Coast on Tuesday, causing light damage and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate buildings in New York, Washington and other cities. Image courtesy of the US Geological Survey

Virginia Magnitude 5.8 August 23, 2011 California Magnitude 6.0 September 28, 2004 Adapted from Horton (2012) (Data from U.S. Geological Survey, “Did you feel it?” website) Where people reported feeling the effects of the Virginia earthquake (green) compared with where a magnitude 6 earthquake in California was reported as being felt (blue).

But, then there are these “troublesome” (not always so little) earthquakes in the middle of the plates... “Intraplate” Earthquakes Plate Tectonics Explains Most Earthquakes

Boston College Educational Seismology Project: Science Education Through Seismology

Hollis Center, Maine Magnitude 4.0 October 16, 2012 Boston College Educational Seismology Project Weston Observatory Gleason Public Library Carlisle, MA 16 sec

IPL Hollis Center, Maine Magnitude 4.0 October 16, 2012 Ipswich Public Library (IPL) Gleason Public Library (GPL) Boston College (BCD) Alan’s Basement (ALK) 20 sec

Hollis Center, Maine: Magnitude 4.0, October 16, 2012

Magnitude 9.0 Near East Coast of Honshu, Japan Magnitude 6.5 – Bali Sea Magnitude Japan Aftershock Recorded at Weston Observatory

Magnitude 9.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN Friday, March 11, 2011 at 05:46:23 UTC Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off its northeastern coast on March 11, 2011: Largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan and the 4 th largest earthquake ever recorded in the world.. USG S Part of houses swallowed by tsunami burn in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11, New York Times In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and there was severe flooding due to a tsunami generated by the earthquake. Japan's worst previous quake was in 1923 in Kanto, a magnitude 8.3 quake that killed 143,000 people. ~16,000 fatalities

Date The black squiggly lines represent ground motion. Each line is one hour. Seismic waves from magnitude 7.1 earthquake - Vanuatu (South Pacific). TIME - MILITARY TIME IN GREENWICH, ENGLAND – GREENWICH MEAN TIME (GMT) OUR CLOCK IS BEHIND 5 HOURS IN WINTER (EST) AND IS BEHIND 4 HOURS IN SUMMER (DST). minutes Background noise caused by offshore waves, people walking by, ventilator fans, etc……. not earthquake waves. The present hour is the last line on the screen. Present time

Costa Rica Magnitude 7.6 September 5, 2012 Boston College Educational Seismology Project Devlin Hall, Boston College Gleason Public Library Carlisle, MA

Hurricane Sandy Recorded by Seismograph at Devlin Hall, Boston College October 28 October 29 October 30 October 31 November 1 Sandy enters Boston area Sandy leaves Boston area Queen Charlotte Islands Earthquake, Magnitude 7.7 Magnitude 6.3 Aftershock Hurricane Sandy in Boston Area

A fault about the size of New England moved about 40 ft during about 2 min. 03/11/11-04/14/11, M≥6 (Aftershocks) , M≥5 (Background Seismicity) 03/11/11, M=9.0 (Main Shock) Fault Plane Fault Plane of Japan Earthquake Plotted on Map of New England Japan Mega-Quake

A fault about the size of Boston moved about 1 ft during a few seconds. August 23, Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake in Virginia Gleason Public Library Carlisle, MA

Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti - January 12, 2010 Photos from: CNN.com and MSN.com ~316,000 fatalities

Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti Recorded at Weston Observatory January 12, 2010