5.3 Earthquake in Argentina

I just got a pretty sizable event in GEE near Chile... USGS hasn't reported yet... More details soon...

This could be another event near the South Sandwich Islands... We just had a 5.5 event there today. But I don't think so from what I am seeing. This appears to be more towards the south of Chile, or somewhere in that area. Could be Argentina.

I had just mentioned that I have been concerned for a while about a possible event in Chile yesterday in my GEE screenshots thread.

I don't think this is HUGE HUGE but it is probably in the 4+ region. Dunno yet. Need more info.

Edit: It was a 5.3 Earthquake in Argentina, right over the border, and within a couple hundred miles of the station I am monitoring. Intraplate quake.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

[edit on Wed Aug 12th 2009 by TrueAmerican]

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reply to post by PaulKCA


Yes, thanks Paul. I hope you realize though that with GEE software, if I am monitoring a station and an event occurs, I am able to report it before the USGS. Now obviously I will not know all the details- those will come soon enough.

And I will give you an example of how this literally could save someone's life at ATS in a case like this. Let's take the New Madrid Fault line for example. I monitor that constantly, because for one, I live close enough to it that a big event there and I may be affected.

But to a guy living in a high apartment floor say 100 miles south of Memphis,TN, an immediate report like this would give him just enough time to get the heck out of that building, which could potentially collapse and kill him.

So I believe there is a value to me monitoring GEE software. It may not be all that important at the moment, but it may be the most important thing an ATS member ever read one day.

Edit: Actually, I got to thinking about this and ran some numbers on exactly how far out and fast I can report any given quake.

In a best case scenario, there is usually a 1 minute delay from realtime to the time the event shows up in GEE. Considering that S-waves are the most destructive, but move about 60 to 75% of the speed of less destructive Primary waves, that puts s-wave speed around 3 miles/second average.

So 3 miles/sec x 60 seconds= 180 miles/minute. So assuming I see the event immediately, the s-waves have already traveled 180 miles from the epicenter. Add another minute of corroboration and posting and now the waves are 360 miles from epicenter. So I was wrong about 100 miles south of Memphis relative to the New Madrid fault. Realistically assuming the best case scenario, I could only help anyone from a 360 mile radius away from the epicenter- and that assumes they see the post- and act- immediately.

As a matter of fact, I would just barely have enough time to get outside myself, all the way in Western North Carolina, assuming immediacy on all fronts. People anywhere in TN will feel it before I can post it, unless maybe, and that's a big maybe, they are somewhere east of Knoxville.

[edit on Wed Aug 12th 2009 by TrueAmerican]