Author Topic: Anyone feel the 4.4 in Tennessee?  (Read 2879 times)

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Offline chief-david

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Anyone feel the 4.4 in Tennessee?
« on: December 12, 2018, 08:36:14 AM »
Heard that on the news this morning.



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Offline SlowModem

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Re: Anyone feel the 4.4 in Tennessee?
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2018, 09:41:53 AM »
Actually, there were two earthquakes, a 4.4 with a 3.0 aftershock.  I was awake and was filling out a "Did You Feel It" form between the two.  I thought it was a really bad gust of wind that had hit the house at first.  But after thinking about it for a second, it seemed to roll from one end of the house to the other.  My wife was in another room and ran in saying, "We've had an earthquake!"

There have been small ones before (2.1 to 3.0) in the past few years, but they were away from here (the closest one was around 30 miles from here).  We are actually on an ancient plate, and we are far from the other plate interactions.  This is supposed to be a seismically stable area.  But I have a feeling things are becoming more active.  I don't know why, I just have that feeling.

The thing is that the epicenter of the quakes are about 1/2 mile from Watts Bar Nuclear Plant where I used to work.  I got an email form a friend of mine that said no systems seem affected, but lots of people were scurrying around checking for seismic effects.  Also, there's a dam there, and I'm sure they're inspecting that.  If it were to burst, it would be bad for Chattanooga which is approx. 60 miles downstream.

Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline WeatherHost

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Re: Anyone feel the 4.4 in Tennessee?
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2018, 11:07:34 AM »
OK, so this was the east end?  I wondered why it would make news if in the west end since they're not all that uncommon.


Offline SlowModem

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Re: Anyone feel the 4.4 in Tennessee?
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2018, 12:06:23 PM »
Yes, between Chattanooga and Knoxville.  It wasn't serious, just very uncommon.  they're even making memes about it.

Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline SlowModem

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Re: Anyone feel the 4.4 in Tennessee?
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2018, 08:21:12 AM »
There has been 7 aftershocks for the 4.4.  There has also been some smaller earthquakes around Oak Ridge, and east of Knoxville.  They say there some small fault lines around here, but it was my impression that they were ancient and inactive for the most part (considering that the Appalacians are some of the oldest mountains in the world).  But there's just one big plate in east TN, and if you move it in one place, you're going to feel it in another.  And I guess it's still moving a little bit.
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

 

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