Earthquake! I know, it actually happened five days ago and I'm just now getting around to typing about it, but come on - these big deals take some time to sink in, right? Well, whatever.
This was not the first earthquake I've ever been in. Nor did I assume - as many of my friends did - that my husband was somehow causing the disturbance. It was, however, a great deal of fun. I love these reminders that Earth is still in charge. (I like the ones that are just reminders, but aren't the cause of great loss of life. I'm funny that way.)
For those of you not in the know - which is probably a lot of you, since this barely made the national news - on Monday at 10:08pm, a couple mountain ranges over from me, there was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. I experienced it while I was laying on my couch, reading. There was a loud "whomp" kind of noise, and then it sounded like the front of my house was going to crack off - then the lamps started swaying. It went on for about five seconds. Just about the time I started to wonder if I should get my lazy self off the couch and under the stairs or in a doorway, the shaking stopped.
Then I called my mom (about six miles away) to find out if I was crazy. And to find out if the phone system was still working.
As far as I can tell, my house rode it out just fine.
Yesterday I went to a lecture by the local geology professor. He said this isn't all that strange for Montana - it's the fourth most geologically active state in the union - but you have to go to California to experience the "big dogs." In Montana, all we're ever going to get are "the little yippy poodles and herd dogs." Apparently you have to have a really long fault to get a really big earthquake. In Montana, we have relatively short ones - so we're never going to get much above a magnitude 7. Ever. Yay.
Also, as far as this geologist can tell, the earthquake Monday had nothing to do with the huge magma lake under Yellowstone Park. The thermal features there barely blinked, and the aftershocks have been typical aftershocks - not the kind of rumbling that indicates something bigger is coming.
That was the good news. The bad news was that not far away there's a (relatively) large fault that is overdue for a good magnitude 7 quake. He showed pictures of it - the fault line was a cliff twenty feet high. Yay?
Books: No time for writing fun stuff. Just the boring things people pay me for. How sad is that.
This was not the first earthquake I've ever been in. Nor did I assume - as many of my friends did - that my husband was somehow causing the disturbance. It was, however, a great deal of fun. I love these reminders that Earth is still in charge. (I like the ones that are just reminders, but aren't the cause of great loss of life. I'm funny that way.)
For those of you not in the know - which is probably a lot of you, since this barely made the national news - on Monday at 10:08pm, a couple mountain ranges over from me, there was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. I experienced it while I was laying on my couch, reading. There was a loud "whomp" kind of noise, and then it sounded like the front of my house was going to crack off - then the lamps started swaying. It went on for about five seconds. Just about the time I started to wonder if I should get my lazy self off the couch and under the stairs or in a doorway, the shaking stopped.
Then I called my mom (about six miles away) to find out if I was crazy. And to find out if the phone system was still working.
As far as I can tell, my house rode it out just fine.
Yesterday I went to a lecture by the local geology professor. He said this isn't all that strange for Montana - it's the fourth most geologically active state in the union - but you have to go to California to experience the "big dogs." In Montana, all we're ever going to get are "the little yippy poodles and herd dogs." Apparently you have to have a really long fault to get a really big earthquake. In Montana, we have relatively short ones - so we're never going to get much above a magnitude 7. Ever. Yay.
Also, as far as this geologist can tell, the earthquake Monday had nothing to do with the huge magma lake under Yellowstone Park. The thermal features there barely blinked, and the aftershocks have been typical aftershocks - not the kind of rumbling that indicates something bigger is coming.
That was the good news. The bad news was that not far away there's a (relatively) large fault that is overdue for a good magnitude 7 quake. He showed pictures of it - the fault line was a cliff twenty feet high. Yay?
Books: No time for writing fun stuff. Just the boring things people pay me for. How sad is that.
