Earthquake rattles southeastern Tennessee, North Carolina, & Georgia

Earthquake rattles southeastern Tennessee, North Carolina, & Georgia

www.comcast.net

DUCKTOWN, Tenn. — A minor earthquake rattled the mountainous area of southeastern Tennessee, western North Carolina and northern Georgia on Saturday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The 3.2-magnitude temblor happened about 11 a.m. Saturday. Its epicenter was located about 55 miles east of Chattanooga, near the town of Ducktown.

Becky Cearley, a dispatcher with the Polk County Sheriff's Department, described the incident as "pretty intense."

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This is big news. There is a major hidden fault line in this area, known as the New Madrid Fault. If it were to snap, it would be disastrous across the south.
en.wikipedia.org...
quake.ualr.edu...

I wonder if this could be the beginning of the fault going active. If so, those properly placed FEMA agents could be well used to declare Martial Law in the South in the event of a major earthquake.

www.comcast.net
(visit the link for the full news article)

I live in Western North Carolina and did not feel the quake.

I don't generally think this is a very earthquake prone area, but it could be the beginning of more activity, as you say.

The New Madrid fault line goes further west and south than here.

Guess they can happen almost anywhere.

[edit on 1-8-2009 by Sestias]

Earthquakes arent new to NC. There is a fault line that runs east/west of Greensboro. This is not where this particular event the OP is talking about happened, but there is a fault line here albeit not a major one.

I live in North Ga, and have most of my life. I started watching the quake activity about a year and a half ago when I got to experience firsthand what it feels like when a small one hits our area. I am not a spring chicken, so many years of living here and we just get the first one of my lifetime, and now it seems they are hitting all above my area lately, this one today was the largest however. I have visited Stone Mountian ga many times, and if you pay attention you learn that:

Stone Mountain is a pluton, a type of igneous intrusion. Primarily composed of quartz monzonite (not technically granite, but a cousin, if you will), the dome of Stone Mountain was formed during the formation of the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains.[citation needed] It formed as a result of the upwelling of magma from within the Earth's crust. This magma solidified to form "granite" within the crust five to ten miles below the surface.

The "granite" is composed of quartz, feldspar, microcline and muscovite, with smaller amounts of biotite and tourmaline. Embedded in the "granite" are xenoliths or pieces of foreign rocks entrained in the magma.

The "granite" intruded into the metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont region during the last stages of the Alleghenian Orogeny, which was the time when North America and North Africa collided. Over time, erosion eventually exposed the present mountain of more resistant igneous rock, in processes similar to those that have exposed Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.


So it is made from magma, the blue ridge mountains formed at the same time, that is one hell of a movement! And folks, this is not the new madrid, this is a whole 'nother type of earth movement and activity! Imagine the force it must have taken to form the Appalacians! Yet we never hear that the region is dangerous for this kind of activity.

I was told at Stone Mountian that it extends beneath 4 states, solid rock. The same 'solid rock' area is where these recent quakes have been occuring. Something is moving again is what I think, and I don't think any attention is being payed toward it.

reply to post by princeofpeace
"Earthquakes arent new to NC. There is a fault line that runs east/west of Greensboro. This is not where this particular event the OP is talking about happened, but there is a fault line here albeit not a major one."

That's true. And better a small quake than a big one. They just mean that it's relieving a little tension that has built up over the years. I wouldn't worry about it.

reply to post by kenton1234


Yes, thank goodness it was a small one to relieve some stress. This isn't the Madrid Zone either. When it shakes, it will cause moderate damage here in middle TN. It will liquify the ground of northwest AR, west MS, and west TN. The Appalachian chain is older than the Himalayans, so there's not much chance that magma will be surfacing here again.