Recent Earthquakes in California and Nevada

[SamsoniteDelilah]

I've been watching this pretty closely, and thought it might interest some here.

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/index_map.gif
It almost seems like a rip-off when they're that big and we don't feel a thing. The biggest one on this map is a 6.0. Also of note: the average number of quakes in a week on this map is around 275-350. I've watched it for six years and don't recall seeing the count above 500.

If you're interested in further details, this map is from here: Recent Earthquakes In California and Nevada (http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/). If you click on that map on any of the quakes, it will give you details about magnitude, etc.

Also, in case you're curious, here's where I am, in relation to all this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/CatFaery/Tour%20of%20Casa%20de%20Cat/earthquakes.jpg

[Godsend]

Mother Nature is mad. It's telling us to vote correctly this time ;) I mean....Cali and Florida?

Not to mention we ACTUALLY had one on Illinois not too long ago...I didn't feel it, but I never knew there was a plate underneath us.

The theory of continental drift is kind of screwy. Does that mean that continental land isn't connected to oceanic land? If so, that then means the plates are under US and not within the ocean, correct? Correct me if I'm wrong, which I probably am.

But how is it possible, if plates are located WITHIN the earth (under the oceanic land), how can they effect us if there is continental drift? Is there something I'm totally missing?

[SamsoniteDelilah]

I'm not... quite sure I followed that. Here's how I picture it: imagine a forest where the trees are cut down. Moss grows on the tree stumps. Then there's a heavy rain and the space between the stumps fills up with water. And there's a river that is feeding this water, so the moss very slowly creeps away from the source of the water, as the water pushes it away. That's a similar situation. We live on the moss, in that scenario.

We live on "plates" called lithosphere (don't even think I didn't go look that up) and they're brittle The ocean is sort of boiling, letting the internal heat of the earth escape, and the water is pushing the plates around.

[Godsend]

Hold on, I'll make PICTURES! :)

There.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

::holds on::

[starrdarcy]

Earthquakes? Never been in one before. Not that i'm missing out on anything.
Over were i live,we have floods!

[SamsoniteDelilah]

Hold on, I'll make PICTURES! :)

There.
:D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/CatFaery/crusty.bmp

[Godsend]

Makes some sense, but I still have my badgering questions :-p

Okay, correct me again if I'm wrong.

The Oceanic crust is the bottom layer of the crust, correct?

Drilling x amount of miles through it would get us to the mantle, correct?

If you answered yes to the above questions, you can go onto the next question :p

How can a continent drift over time if it is just stuck to the ground?

[SamsoniteDelilah]

...How can a continent drift over time if it is just stuck to the ground?It's not that stuck.
Many things that seem static are moving.
Glass is a liquid, for example.
The continents are moving really slowly.
It's all churning, but so slowly you can't see it unless you can figure out where things were a hundred years or more ago.
Capiche? ;)

[HellboyUnleashed]

CALIFORNIA IS GONNA BREAK OFF FROM THE UNITED STATES!!! ITS FINALLY HAPPENING!!! I don't know if you will still be able to go online if it does break off. There probably won't be any survivors either. RUN!!!!

[Godsend]

CALIFORNIA IS GONNA BREAK OFF FROM THE UNITED STATES!!! ITS FINALLY HAPPENING!!! I don't know if you will still be able to go online if it does break off. There probably won't be any survivors either. RUN!!!!

Do you live in Cali?

I understand now, is the same for Islands? I'm guessing so cause volanic eruptions make them...but they don't drift, do they?

[SamsoniteDelilah]

Here's a better picture than the one we drew. (If you can believe that!)
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/egifs/Earthscrust.GIF

And here's a great illustration of the theory, going across the millenia:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/cgifs/Continentaldrift.gif

THere's some other good stuff at Zoom School. (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Continents.shtml)

[allthatglitters]

I felt one of the earthquakes Monday, we were just feeling the after shocks though, not too bad. Hey Delila- were you in LA during the Northridge Earthquake?

[SamsoniteDelilah]

I felt one of the earthquakes Monday, we were just feeling the after shocks though, not too bad. Hey Delila- were you in LA during the Northridge Earthquake?
Nope. I saw them on TV in Ohio. Were you here for that? It looked horrifying!

[allthatglitters]

I wasn't in Northridge, but I was in Redondo at the time (I think, Redondo). I had to be like 5 and I was SO scared. I had my own room on the other side of the house and we were redoing the carpet so there were tacks everywhere and I am just so glad I thought to put on shoes. My cousin and her family lived in Northridge at the time, every single thing that was glass in their house broke, I remember going to help them, it was pretty sad.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

I know a girl your age who was in Northridge at the time. She had a really hard time dealing with it for awhile. Seeing things crumble at that age has a lasting effect. I'm glad you weren't in the worst of it. You must have felt that 7.2 a few years ago that was out in the desert? My parents were about 50 miles from the center of that. They had some good stories to tell.

[allthatglitters]

I know a girl your age who was in Northridge at the time. She had a really hard time dealing with it for awhile. Seeing things crumble at that age has a lasting effect. I'm glad you weren't in the worst of it. You must have felt that 7.2 a few years ago that was out in the desert? My parents were about 50 miles from the center of that. They had some good stories to tell.

Actually I moved to Northern California in 1995, I was in Sonoma County which was almost just on the San Andreas fault line. I was pretty lucky, I lived there for 8-9 years and I think that whole entire time there were only a few very small ones like 2.0 or 3.0, I almost moved to Marin which is right on the fault line, thank goodness I didn't. Two years ago I moved to central cali., so I've felt some of the aftershocks this week that have been way out in the middle of nowehere. Personally I think Californians are lucky, the only natural disaster risks we have are huge earthquakes. Other than that and some flooding with some of the rivers (which is never really major) we don't have that much to worry about.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

I agree! I've been evacuated twice for hurricaines in NC and hidden countless times in basements in Ohio from tornadoes... I'll take earthquakes any day.

[allthatglitters]

I agree! I've been evacuated twice for hurricaines in NC and hidden countless times in basements in Ohio from tornadoes... I'll take earthquakes any day.

My mother will purposefully go out to see her friends in Ohio during tornado season so she can see one, she hasn't yet. Each time she goes she brings California's mellow weather over with her, and then when she leaves Ohio, that's when the tornados start to come. I don't know if I am just being plain snobby, but I don't know if I could live any where else other than California. I hate the idea of like heavy snow during the winter, I mean hello that's what Mammoth is for. I would panic during a tornado or twister (I don't even know if those are two seperate things or one and the same). Hurricanes are just wet and big and destructive. I really need to get out of this thinking; it's un-healthy.

[gummo]

wish I payed more attention in grade 9 science