Earthquake Reported Off West Florida Coast!

[caribepr]

If you Google "earthquakes Gulf of Mexico" (try the News link) or some combination thereof there is a lot to learn and it's very interesting, with, of course, many differing opinions. Check it out, get informed - crazy idea but well worth trying. Personally, I'm blaming it on oil drilling with absolutely NO scientific backup or reasoning, simply personal prejudice.

[feederband]

Just pulled out the grill to grill some burgers....The grill started shaking..I thought there may have been a critter in there....I didn't really feel a thing...But the grill was shaking...

Hope this is not a trend...A few months ago there was I think a 5.2 out there in the gulf...But the earth has been shaking alot everywhere...

I thought this happaned at like 10:45 or something like that this morning. What in the world were you having burgers for breakfast?

LOL ...Kids had some friends over..I was just setting up....And it was closer to 11:00 when it shook here...

[bob rulz]

Why can't you have burgers for breakfast?

It's all just food to me. Food that I have the right to eat at anytime of the day.

[ArizonaBay]

Just wondering if this article I found on the U.S. Geological website might explain the earthquake? Any ideas?
"Similar to many other mounds in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Sager and others, 2004), these mounds show seismic amplitude bright spots and are probable sites of fluid venting"
The article title is "Archive of Raw Bottom Photographs Collected During Cruise P1-04-GM, Northern Gulf of Mexico, 21-24 June, 2004 "

http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/openfile/of2004-1285/

[chris_fit]

I felt it up in gainsville when I was visiting. First one i ever felt... was interesting.... heh.. thought the ppl under me were still partying after the UF victory over UCF

[all_we_know_is_FALLING]

I've only felt one minor tremor before.

Supposedly one day there's going to be a big quake here, or around here. I live near Memphis and the New Madrid Fault Line is supposed to have big earthquake somewhere in the future. Hope I'm not living here then.

[hurricanefloyd5]

reports now say there is no fault line for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ArizonaBay]

reports now say there is no fault line for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:15 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just wondering if this article I found on the U.S. Geological website might explain the earthquake? Any ideas?
"Similar to many other mounds in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Sager and others, 2004), these mounds show seismic amplitude bright spots and are probable sites of fluid venting"
The article title is "Archive of Raw Bottom Photographs Collected During Cruise P1-04-GM, Northern Gulf of Mexico, 21-24 June, 2004 "

http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/openfile/of2004-1285/

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

I definately felt it! I tmoved everything in my house that was on shelves about 2 inches to the west.

They are having investigators come out to the building to check it for damage today. I live in an 11 story concrete building on Treasure Island (just west of St. Petersburg) and the pilings go all the way down to the bedrock. We're the only buildign that does that here on our barrier island.

The lower floors didn't feel much of anything, but it was magnified for the upper floors.

Because of the sandy land of much of the west coast, the energy fo the quake was diffused more than it would have been if we had very solid, rock-like land. If it was a stronger quake, a lot of Florida, and especially the barrier islands would not only have to fear potential tsunamis, but worse, a "sloughing" of the land. When you get a big quake on sandy/clayish land, the land can turn to a quicksand or mud. The buildings will sink into the slurry that is temporarily created.

In addition, the increased threat from sink holes is now there.

Because this is a "stress earthquake" and not the result of sliding plates or subduction, the tsunami threat is diminished. The water above the 4km quake got to wiggle, but was displaced up or down by feet, which would cause a tsunami like that in the Indian Ocean.

Here on Treasure Island there was a slight water rise about 1 hr 15 min after the quake, but it was only about a foot. It was more like the high tide peaked very fast, then returned to high tide (for real) shortly afterwards.

I have been in quakes in NH (small), CA (luckily also small) and in the Netherlands (5.8) that caused my 3-story brick building to be condemned. Because the ground was much more solid there, the weaker quake had a much more severe effect.

Odds are their is a fault line developing in the gulf, as a new tail end and connecting to the New Madrid fault line.

I would predict that we will see another big quake soon in the TN valley (within 3 months). -it's always a give & take.

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

Correction: Because this is a "stress earthquake" and not the result of sliding plates or subduction, the tsunami threat is diminished. The water above the 4km quake got to wiggle, but was NOT displaced up or down by feet, which would cause a tsunami like that in the Indian Ocean.

[Farseer]

Personally, I'm blaming it on oil drilling with absolutely NO scientific backup or reasoning, simply personal prejudice.

That may actually be true. I'm sure the USGS will be investigating.

Furthermore, some of the sparse seismicity in the normal-fault belt may be artificially induced. Earthquakes of mbLg 3.4 and 3.9 and M of 4.0 and 4.7 in southeastern Texas and M 4.9 in southwestern Alabama may have been induced by extraction of oil and gas or injection of fluids for secondary recovery (Pennington and others, 1986 #1876; Chang and others, 1998 #1806; Gomberg and others, 1998 #1828; Gomberg and Wolf, 1999 #3440). Therefore, the natural seismicity rate in the normal-fault belt might be even less than the recent historical record would indicate.

Text above is from here: zone 2654 for Alabama and Florida:
http://gldims.cr.usgs.gov/webapps/cfusion/Sites/qfault/qf_web_disp.cfm?qfault_or=1236&qfault_id=2654

Here is the USGS GoM coastal fault zones.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/qfaults/eusa/gulf.php

[TampaSteve]

Personally, I'm blaming it on oil drilling with absolutely NO scientific backup or reasoning, simply personal prejudice.

That may actually be true. I'm sure the USGS will be investigating.

Furthermore, some of the sparse seismicity in the normal-fault belt may be artificially induced. Earthquakes of mbLg 3.4 and 3.9 and M of 4.0 and 4.7 in southeastern Texas and M 4.9 in southwestern Alabama may have been induced by extraction of oil and gas or injection of fluids for secondary recovery (Pennington and others, 1986 #1876; Chang and others, 1998 #1806; Gomberg and others, 1998 #1828; Gomberg and Wolf, 1999 #3440). Therefore, the natural seismicity rate in the normal-fault belt might be even less than the recent historical record would indicate.

Text above is from here: zone 2654 for Alabama and Florida:
http://gldims.cr.usgs.gov/webapps/cfusion/Sites/qfault/qf_web_disp.cfm?qfault_or=1236&qfault_id=2654

Here is the USGS GoM coastal fault zones.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/qfaults/eusa/gulf.php

Ah, I see...it's all Bush's "fault"...

[Canelaw99]

I was amazed to hear this story this morning on the news. I was at my parents' place in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday on the computer starting around 10 and within an hour, so prob. around 11 or so, I felt like the building was swaying. Their place is 10 floors up, and I thought I was going crazy, or just a little hungover from the night before or something, but I definitely felt a sway...must've been from this quake. It was really odd and only lasted a few seconds. Of course, I have the same thing here in H'stead when the jets do those lovely sonic booms too.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Aftershocks are possible according to seismologists!

http://www.wftv.com/news/9817047/detail.html

[jlauderdal]

Aftershocks are possible according to seismologists!

http://www.wftv.com/news/9817047/detail.html

no way, aftershocks after an earthquake are quite a rare event.

[slartibartfast]

I could be wrong but i was under the impression that aftershocks are quite common after earthquakes and can persist for quite a long time. Thankfully they are nearly always considerably smaller than the first quake. but i will do some reading to be sure and report back.
Mark

[Extremeweatherguy]

they are saying aftershocks are possible in the longer term...so don't be surprised to hear of more gulf quakes over the next few months.

also: you are correct Slartibartfast. After large quakes, aftershocks are quite common...but probably less so in the GOM than in a place like California.

[Mac]

they are saying aftershocks are possible in the longer term...so don't be surprised to hear of more gulf quakes over the next few months.

also: you are correct Slartibartfast. After large quakes, aftershocks are quite common...but probably less so in the GOM than in a place like California.

Yeah, I think they are more common along a fault line due to "settling" of the faulty line after it slips. But this wasn't a fault line. So I don't know how common aftershocks would really be.

[TheRingo]

Has anyone seen this?

earthquakes because of hurricanes
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /209120309

[Pebbles]

Has anyone seen this?

earthquakes because of hurricanes
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /209120309

Well now that's interesting! Who would of thought of the possibility of hurricanes and earthquakes...