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neonvincentI got the laptop fixed last month. It had files from January to June 2015 on it and I'll be posting them for the rest of the month. I'm starting with one of the two Detroit Science News articles I wrote then.
Saturday's earthquake the strongest to hit Michigan since 1947
The earthquake that struck Michigan at 12:23 P.M. Saturday was the strongest to hit the state since 1947, according to experts at the University of Michigan. The tremor, which registered 4.2 on the Richter scale, originated at at depth of 3.2 miles beneath a point five miles south of Galesberg, which is nine miles southeast of Kalamazoo and fourteen miles west-southwest of Battle Creek, according to the the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Despite the most power generated by an earthquake in Michigan in 67 years, no injuries were reported according to the Detroit Free Press. One photograph from a Twitter user published by the Free Press claimed to show some broken glass caused by the earthquake. This was consistent with the USGS's intensity map of the tremor. The areas where the shaking was strongest could experience minor damage to objects knocked off walls and shelves.
Larry Ruff, a seismologist at the University of Michigan, commented that earthquakes the size of the one that shook Michigan on Saturday were rare. "We feel a lot of relatively small earthquakes in the state, but most of them occur to the south of Michigan," Ruff said in a press release. "So to have an earthquake of this magnitude with the epicenter in Michigan is very unusual."
Ruff also said that the most powerful quake to hit Michigan shook the town of Coldwater on August 10, 1947, with a magnitude of 4.6. The distance between the 1947 Coldwater earthquake and Saturday's quake near Galesburg was less than 50 miles. Ruff said he will try to determine if they are related. "I think it could be significant that they are so close, but we just don't know yet," Ruff said in a press release.
One factor that Ruff ruled out was hydraulic fracturing or fracking. He said there are no active hydraulically fractured gas or oil wells near Saturday's earthquake.
Ruff listed only one other quake since 1946 having an epicenter within Michigan that could be considered significant. That was a magnitude 3.5 earthquake that occured southwest of Lansing on September 2, 1994.
Saturday's earthquake was felt not only in Michigan, but also in nearby parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Eric Hetland, a geophysicist at the University of Michigan, explained that this was not unusual. "Earthquakes in the central U.S. tend to be felt far from the epicenter of the earthquake," Hetland said in a press release. "In comparison, it would be unlikely for people to have felt a similar-sized earthquake in California at distances that today's earthquake was felt."Proposal 1 loses badly statewide while winning Ann Arbor
Another University of Michigan expert, earthquake geologist Ben van der Pluijm, offered a reassuring opinion about earthquakes that are likely to happen in Michigan. He said in a press release that earthquakes like the one that occurred Saturday in Michigan are unlike the plate-boundary earthquake that occurred recently in Nepal. Earthquakes like Saturday's event are called within-plate earthquakes and shake the region regularly with little or no damage.
Saturday's earthquake the strongest to hit Michigan since 1947
The earthquake that struck Michigan at 12:23 P.M. Saturday was the strongest to hit the state since 1947, according to experts at the University of Michigan. The tremor, which registered 4.2 on the Richter scale, originated at at depth of 3.2 miles beneath a point five miles south of Galesberg, which is nine miles southeast of Kalamazoo and fourteen miles west-southwest of Battle Creek, according to the the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Despite the most power generated by an earthquake in Michigan in 67 years, no injuries were reported according to the Detroit Free Press. One photograph from a Twitter user published by the Free Press claimed to show some broken glass caused by the earthquake. This was consistent with the USGS's intensity map of the tremor. The areas where the shaking was strongest could experience minor damage to objects knocked off walls and shelves.
Larry Ruff, a seismologist at the University of Michigan, commented that earthquakes the size of the one that shook Michigan on Saturday were rare. "We feel a lot of relatively small earthquakes in the state, but most of them occur to the south of Michigan," Ruff said in a press release. "So to have an earthquake of this magnitude with the epicenter in Michigan is very unusual."
Ruff also said that the most powerful quake to hit Michigan shook the town of Coldwater on August 10, 1947, with a magnitude of 4.6. The distance between the 1947 Coldwater earthquake and Saturday's quake near Galesburg was less than 50 miles. Ruff said he will try to determine if they are related. "I think it could be significant that they are so close, but we just don't know yet," Ruff said in a press release.
One factor that Ruff ruled out was hydraulic fracturing or fracking. He said there are no active hydraulically fractured gas or oil wells near Saturday's earthquake.
Ruff listed only one other quake since 1946 having an epicenter within Michigan that could be considered significant. That was a magnitude 3.5 earthquake that occured southwest of Lansing on September 2, 1994.
Saturday's earthquake was felt not only in Michigan, but also in nearby parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Eric Hetland, a geophysicist at the University of Michigan, explained that this was not unusual. "Earthquakes in the central U.S. tend to be felt far from the epicenter of the earthquake," Hetland said in a press release. "In comparison, it would be unlikely for people to have felt a similar-sized earthquake in California at distances that today's earthquake was felt."Proposal 1 loses badly statewide while winning Ann Arbor
Another University of Michigan expert, earthquake geologist Ben van der Pluijm, offered a reassuring opinion about earthquakes that are likely to happen in Michigan. He said in a press release that earthquakes like the one that occurred Saturday in Michigan are unlike the plate-boundary earthquake that occurred recently in Nepal. Earthquakes like Saturday's event are called within-plate earthquakes and shake the region regularly with little or no damage.
