Speculation Confirmed: We Actually Had an Earthquake in South Jersey

[AMGoff]

It happened yesterday a little before ten in the morning... At first we heard what sounded like a loud boom, almost like a close by clap of thunder - yet the sun was definitely out... Then the entire house rattled and shook for a good 5-10 seconds. It was nothing major and there was no damage... but it was definitely more than noticeable.

The only thing slightly unsettling about the whole ordeal was simply that we had no idea what the hell it was... The thought of an earthquake didn't even register with us at first, hell wasn't even on our list of possibilities since earthquakes - especially ones that are actually felt, are very, very rare in this part of the country in general... Even more so in this particular area since South Jersey sits on a coastal plain.

But sure enough - it was an actual, honest-to-goodness earthquake... It was a magnitude 2.8 and the epicenter was approximately 12 miles, as the crow flies from our house.

Granted... It was an undoubtedly small one and I'm sure there are many others on here that have experienced far worse. But again, the sheer rarity of something like such happening here made it all the more notable. The last time I personally remember one similar was all the way back in 1990... I believe that one was a 3.2 and prior to that, my father had told me there was a 3.8 quake that shook the area in February of '73 which they remember clearly. Evidently, it caused such a stir that my mother went into false labor and was rushed to the hospital - all for nothing however, since I ended up stubbornly staying in there for another three weeks... lol.

Anyway... It was quite an event yesterday!

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/.../ld1024312.php
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/br..._Delaware.html

[Jesda]

Maybe it was just a chemical plant that blew up.

[submariner409]

Adam, We sit on a major fault. Benign, but it could snap at any time. Look what happened out around Memphis a few hundred years back......I just hope that California blows first: that would relieve a lot of stress elsewhere.........

[hueterm]

I heard that on the radio yesterday -- glad there wasn't any damage.

When I was in college, there was a New Madrid earthquake that was felt in St. Louis, which is a few hundred miles away. VERY disconcerting, even though it was very minor.

[dkozloski]

We have about 20,000 earthquakes each year. You've got a ways to go.

[77CDV]

2.8?!? The semis going up the 101 shake the ground more than that. Call me when you hit 6.0 or better.

[orconn]

We Californians can sneer at an earthquake of 2.8 on the Richter scale, but there's not a lot going on South Jersey so a small earthquake takes on a significance all its' own. Hope it didn't colapse any tables at Cowtown!

[Playdrv4me]

2.8 for that part of the country is a BIG deal because it would take considerably less magnitude to have a disastrous effect on the older, more brittle and NON earthquake rated structures there.

[submariner409]

A year or so ago a small quake here in central E Maryland knocked a flower pot over.

When I was stationed in Naples, Italy in the late 60's you could sit in the living room and watch the ceiling lights (on swag chains - 12' ceilings) jiggle back and forth 24/7 as the lava underground farted and burped back and forth between Vesuvius and Solfatara.

[JimHare]

I was at work when it happened but the wife called and said the whole house shook and rattled - they were concerned around here that it was the nuclear station at Hope Creek (3 mi south) or the Dupont-Chambersworks chemical plants in Carney's Point (5 mi north). The epicenter was about 7 mi N/E of here in Elsinboro. As Tony noted, they're rare enough around here to not be high on the list of "what the heck was that?" conjecture...

On the other hand, had the quake leveled the town of Salem, it would have done over $100 worth of damage..

[submariner409]

..............especially if the tsunami in the Delaware River had sunk your boat..........

(The worry about Salem Power Plant just points out how ingrained our unjustified fear of nuclear power really is. The country would be far better off, energy-wise and dependency-wise, if we would build another 300 of the things. Over 90% of France is lit by inexpensive nuclear power - at our present rate of non-construction it will take us 500 years to catch up. My whole-body radiation dosage during an 80 day ballistic missile nuclear submarine deterrent patrol was less than any resident of Denver receives in two weeks.)

[orconn]

Originally Posted by submariner409

..............especially if the tsunami in the Delaware River had sunk your boat..........

(The worry about Salem Power Plant just points out how ingrained our unjustified fear of nuclear power really is. The country would be far better off, energy-wise and dependency-wise, if we would build another 300 of the things. Over 90% of France is lit by inexpensive nuclear power - at our present rate of non-construction it will take us 500 years to catch up. My whole-body radiation dosage during an 80 day ballistic missile nuclear submarine deterrent patrol was less than any resident of Denver receives in two weeks.)

Are you sure, or is that what the Navy told you? You see, we live in an un-trusting age! Ha! ha!

[dkozloski]

Hey Sub. Do they still make everybody wear a dosimeter badge?

[Hooligan63]

2.8?That's nothing,we have been getting 3.8's and above here since last year.Man,I could sleep right through a 2.8..Watch out Jersey,you're becoming the new California.

[Hooligan63]

By the way,this leads me to the discussion of California breaking off in to the ocean.I was reading theories on this,and wondered if the same people that came up with these theories still thought the world was flat too.I can elaborate of anyone cares