Southwest Virginia Earthquake

Today in Southwest Virginia we had another small earthquake, 2.5 to be exact. I know it doesn't sound like much but for an area that doesn't really have any large faults is seems that things are being effected on this side of the country too. Here's a link about the earthquake today:

www.roanoke.com...

and here's the link to the USGS for todays little quake:

earthquake.usgs.gov...

The last earthquake in this area was on my birthday back in 2009. That earthquake was a 3.0 and I'm the only one in my house that felt it. Many people across town closer to the epicenter were awakened by the noise and shaking. We are not use to feeling that kinda of thing around here, so when it happens its a big thing. It also seems that our quakes or not very deep. Today's quake was only 4 miles deep and I don't know how that effects the way you feel the quake?

I bring this thread up because just yesterday I was reading this post about a mega-quake being predicted to hit SW Virginia in September 2011.

______beforeitsnews/story/511/584/Warning_of_Appalachians_Mountain_Coming_Troubles_..._EYE_Report.html

I don't know what to think of this guy that is predicting this as I haven't read much about him. I find it hard to believe a quake of that magnitude will hit in this area as we do not have any known large faults to cause this kind of movement. I have noticed that if you look at the USGS site there does seem to be a lot more little earthquake squares on the map on this side of the country than I remember ever seeing before, especially along the appalachian mountain line.

I suppose the Appalachian Mountain Range was created somehow due to earths moving plates and/or land crashing into each other. What do you guys think? Anyone have any special feelings about this side of the country? I have been storing food for the "just in case" but if a quake hit this area of that kind of magnitude, I can't say that our building codes were made for that kind of shaking.

No, I didn't feel it either. I did feel the one in 2009 and it woke me up with the bed shaking but I thought it was a dream...LOL! The only way I found out is a few minutes later when the phone started ringing from friends across town that they thought something had hit their house and everyone was coming out and standing in the road.

Sorry I edited my top post I know I shouldn't be as paranoid as I am I just did not want to give away my location.
Privacy is hard enough as it is to maintain on the internet.

Greetings from Lynchburg!
At least know I know where NOT to be on Sept,4.
Gonna make me a giant pile of pillows and wait it out,
Thanks for the warning, but I;m sure I;ll forget as Beforeitsnews doesn;t have a very high reputation with me.

This is strange because the only natural disasters that concern me around these parts is the possibility of a forest fire. I guess earthquakes can happen anywhere.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


I agree about the before its news, some of it can be wishy washy but you know when you see something that sounds like it is right at your back door it makes you do a double take. I went to the guys website and took a look at his credentials but I don't know. I don't see how you can pick dates like that out of thin air??? I think I'm just praying that is just bologna!!!

after reading your post i researched virginia and found that there is 7 fault lines in virginia... They are as follows: Mountain Run Fault, Brookneal Fault, Shores Fault, Lakeside Fault, Spotsylvania Fault, Hylas Fault

I am not sure how large they are.. but you can research the size and amount of activity that has happened... good luck and be safe

Here is a map of the faults in Virginia although I'm not sure what the difference in them is.

reply to post by Starseed32


I wouldn't sweat it to much. The earth is always moving and flexing. I know the activity in your area is rare so until it starts happening more and more I wouldn't worry. The only earthquake activity that bothers me (being in NC) is The New Madrid fault. Even though there is the distance of Tennessee between us and the fault they say it will still give us a good shaking.

About Beforeitswasnews, I skimmed the article and summed it up with one question. So star visitors told him that in Sept. there will be an Earthquake in VA?

Sounds like another Blossom Goodchild. I wouldn't take Beforeitsnews to serious. Entertaining, but not serious.

Wow I had no clue that happened today...I'm on the SE side of VA. I can say having experience in the construction industry here in VA that our building codes are no where up to par for anything over let's say a 6.5 maybe less than that. If this where to happen here it would be really bad... You are right about the mountains here though they are some of the oldest in North America and haven't been "actively" doing anything for a long time but who's to say that couldn't change. There was a beached whale in VA Beach today too if that isn't a weird enough coincidence since that has kinda been a hallmark of some of the recent quakes going on. Gonna keep my eye on this cause most of my family live here. I'll be gone soon back to good old NM thank god

reply to post by Starseed32


Thanks for the map of the fault lines in SW Va........ had no idea that my place in VA was right at the Saltville Faultline!! Should have known it was seeing how many mountains I have to go over in order to get to it. I won't worry about it too much until (if) we start to see some swarms in the area like NMFZ. Thanks again for the info!!

reply to post by Starseed32

The last earthquake in this area was on my birthday back in 2009.

Mm, not really. This is the list since 1st Jan 2009

Date/Time UTC,Latitude,Longitude,Magnitude,Depth(Km),Location
2011-03-28 07:26:22, 37.062, -80.797, 2.5, 6.4, Virginia
2011-01-10 03:06:34, -42.862, 172.310, 3.1, 12.9, Virginia
2010-10-30 06:10:13, 37.734, -77.459, 2.4, 4.1, Virginia
2010-10-02 20:17:00, 37.852, -77.517, 3.0, 19.1, Virginia
2010-09-13 15:08:46, 38.099, -82.034, 2.4, 14.5, West Virginia
2010-08-26 04:24:55, 37.727, -81.204, 2.2, 4.3, West Virginia
2010-08-26 04:22:15, 37.748, -81.204, 2.4, 0.1, West Virginia
2010-08-21 03:16:22, 38.792, -80.397, 2.5, 10.7, West Virginia
2010-08-15 04:38:47, 38.818, -80.429, 2.5, 17.0, West Virginia
2010-07-25 03:48:35, 38.679, -80.797, 2.2, 8.0, West Virginia
2010-07-24 09:15:44, 38.675, -80.820, 2.4, 2.3, West Virginia
2010-05-07 10:26:03, 38.606, -80.913, 2.6, 0.1, West Virginia
2010-04-29 12:38:53, 38.646, -80.872, 2.7, 1.1, West Virginia
2010-04-29 04:12:52, 37.847, -77.714, 2.3, 4.0, Virginia
2010-04-29 01:36:21, 38.685, -80.814, 2.6, 0.1, West Virginia
2010-04-04 09:19:14, 38.598, -80.916, 3.4, 0.1, West Virginia
2009-12-18 16:27:57, 37.695, -77.640, 2.0, 0.1, Virginia
2009-12-16 13:20:50, 37.535, -78.513, 2.2, 9.7, Virginia
2009-11-25 22:24:46, 37.559, -78.869, 2.7, 0.1, Virginia
2009-10-06 07:07:52, 37.711, -78.039, 1.7, 3.5, Virginia
2009-08-14 13:48:19, 36.764, -82.363, 2.9, 16.0, Virginia
2009-08-03 16:22:41, 37.929, -77.590, 1.6, 7.6, Virginia
2009-08-02 21:57:07, 37.928, -77.579, 2.3, 8.8, Virginia
2009-07-31 10:14:10, 37.779, -77.535, 2.1, 5.9, Virginia
2009-07-07 03:59:52, 37.638, -77.635, 2.3, 10.9, Virginia
2009-07-04 12:24:43, 37.378, -80.746, 2.8, 11.5, West Virginia
2009-05-16 08:08:17, 37.248, -80.002, 3.0, 12.9, Virginia
2009-04-11 18:11:09, 37.513, -80.895, 2.4, 2.8, West Virginia
2009-01-12 23:07:39, 37.214, -80.781, 2.3, 7.4, Virginia

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4b9561c00e85.jpg[/atsimg]

Now agreed some of those are Virginia as opposed to West Virginia. So would that make your birthday Independence Day?

reply to post by PuterMan


Thanks Puterman for the info. Actually when I made that statement, I was referring to my neck of the woods being SW Virginia. Not allthe EQ's in VA.

reply to post by Starseed32


Yes that was why I said "Now agreed some of those are Virginia" - not really knowing the area of course. There did seem to be a few in W Virginia however - is that not your area?.

Brings the big quake predicted in September into perspective. Hopefully the 5.8 to 6.0 that happened today in Mineral, VA was the bigger one for VA that someone was picking up on. The way things were shaking here today, I wouldn't want to be in a larger one!