Pages

Friday, November 25, 2011

Small quake shakes north Alabama Thursday night

ADDISON, Al.
A 2.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded about 8 miles from Addison last night at 7:18.

The "microquake" was measured at a depth of 1/10 mile, according to the Southeast U.S. Seismic Network.

The U.S. Geological Survey has more on the Thanksgiving quake.

Small earthquakes are not rare in Alabama, with more than 270 recorded since 1971 through the fall of 2011.

Alabama is in the Southern Appalachian Seismic Zone, also called the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone. The earthquakes here are related to the faults that run through the Appalachians.

The largest earthquake on record in Alabama was an estimated magnitude 5.1 with an epicenter in Irondale in 1916 that collapsed chimneys, cracked foundations and broke windows. The largest Alabama earthquake actually picked up by seismographs happened in 2003 in Fort Payne. The 4.9 magnitude quake was felt in 13 states.

There have been other earthquakes in Alabama this year: a 3.0 quake in Jefferson County in September; a 2.1 magnitude was reported in August in Fayette; two earthquakes -- one a 2.2, the other a 2.5 -- were detected in one week in March in Limestone County; and in February a magnitude 3.5 earthquake struck just south of Fort Morgan in south Alabama.









No comments:

Post a Comment