11/10/68 THE VIRGINIAN - PILOT
Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, and Chesapeake,
Virginia, Sunday, November 10, 1968
22 STATES RATTLED BY QUAKE
No Big Damage Or Casualties
By The Associated Press
A strong earthquake centered in southern Illinois shook more
than a third of the United States Saturday, rolling across at
least 22 states. The shock was felt by millions, and it
swayed numerous buildings, but there were no immediate
reports of serious damage or of any casualties. The tremor
rolled out from Illinois west to Kansas and Oklahoma; east
to West Virginia and the Carolinas; south to Alabama,
Mississippi and Arkansas; and north to Wisconsin and
Michigan.
The quake was reported in Minnesota, Arkansas, Illinois,
Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Georgia, Kentucky, West
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Nebraska,
Iowa, Alabama, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.
The National Earthquake Information Center in Washington,
D.C., located the epicenter of the quake - the point on the
earth's surface directly above the shock - as 120 miles east
of St. Louis, Mo., at 38.5 degrees north, 88 degrees west.
That is in Illinois near the Indiana state line.
First reports had indicated the epicenter was at New Madrid,
Mo., the heart of disastrous tremors in 1811-1812.
Carl von Hake, acting chief of the center, said the quake had
a magnitude of 5.5 on the 10-point Richter scale. The usual
damage level is 6.
A built-up, populated area can experience damage from a quake
that registers less than 6. Because the quake hit a wide and
populated area, Von Hake characterized it as strong.
The 1964 earthquake that devastated much of Alaska registered
about 8.5 on the Richter scale.
Large buildings in St. Louis swayed noticeably for about 10
seconds after the quake struck. A seismograph report from
Xavier University in Cincinnati said the shock was recorded
at 12:03.30 p.m. EST.
There were widespread reports of swaying buildings, trembling
walls and desks moving. There were scattered reports of
minor damage, cracked windows, broken plaster and falling
objects.
"I was trying to hold onto the kitchen wall," said a woman in
Princeton, Mo. "I thought a truck had hit the house."
In Chicago, Loyala University, which has a seismograph, said
the disturbance was only a tremor. A woman living on the
city's South Side said, however, "I was petrified. The whole
place was shaking. It was an earthquake."
A North Omaha, Neb., resident said, "My whole house shook,"
and in nearby Omaha, a man on the eighth floor of an office
building said the shock was "quite noticeable." He said the
building swayed and "seemed like it moved two inches."
Although there did not appear to be any major damage,
authorities in some areas were taking no chances of unseen
cracks or breaks appearing latter and causing accidents.
Chicago & North Western Railroad closed its drawbridge over
the Missouri River at Clinton, Iowa. It said it would run
no trains over the bridge until it had been checked for
possible damage.
Buildings were evacuated in several areas and occupants of
upper floors of tall buildings rushed to lower levels when
the quake began.
Tremors lasted varying amounts of time. Paducah, Ky.,
reported a shock of about 40 seconds. Paducah is located
near 20,000-acre Reelfoot Lake, formed by the earthquake of
1811-12. Xavier University timed the quake at eight to nine
minutes long.
Most people did not realize what was happening at first.
"I thought somebody was behind me rocking my chair," said
C. Alvin Simmons, deputy sheriff at Lafayette, Ga., who was
sitting in his office at the Walker County Jail when the
first tremor was felt.
Then, said Simmons, "I looked out the window and the wires
running into the building made me realize - this jail's
shaking."
Frank Osborn, mayor of Monette, Ark., where the tremors
lasted 20 to 30 seconds, said, "Buildings were shaking and
seemed to be changing positions."
1 Fault Can Move Another
PASADENA, Calif. (UPI) -
The first documented case of an earthquake on one geologic
fault - a fracture in the earth's crust - causing movements
on other faults was reported Saturday by the California
Institute of Technology.
Max Wyss, a graduate research assistant in geophysics at the
Caltech Seismology Laboratory, reported on a study of a 6.5
magnitude earthquake at Southern California's Borrego
Mountain in San Diego County last April 8.
This was the largest tremblor in Southern California in 15
years and Wyss said:
"We've found that it apparently caused movements on at least
three other faults miles away. This appears to be the first
documented case of one fault causing movements on other
faults. It implies that damage to structures on or near
earthquake faults may occur even though the earthquake is
centered on some other distant fault."
On the same subject, Dr. Clarence R. Allen, acting chairman
of Caltech's Division of Geology, said the main Borrego shock
"apparently triggered small displacements on other faults as
far as 50 miles from the epicenter. This triggering of the
fault by another is a very surprising and in some ways
disconcerting discovery, inasmuch as it vastly increases our
estimate of the probability of displacements on the many
small faults cutting the California landscape."
See Source File Key #1152 in re earthquakes articles in
Virginian-Pilot 11/68.
2/10-12/69 TIMES-PICAYUNE
Quakes Could Hit Unusual Areas
A recently revised U.S. Department of Commerce map has
listed some unusual areas of the U.S. where, according to
past records, earthquakes have hit hardest, and where there
is the greatest potential for future damaging quakes.
It shouldn't shake anyone to learn that California is on the
list - but what about Boston!
California and Western Nevada comprise one of the seven areas
where major quake damage may occur. Florida, Texas, and a
portion of Alabama and Mississippi bordering the Gulf of
Mexico are safe.
Other areas potentially and historically subject to heavy
damage are the Boston area of Massachusetts, the region
around Charleston, S.C., the northern part of states
bordering the St. Lawrence River, a portion of Missouri, a
belt running north from Utah through Idaho and Montana, and
the western part of the state of Washington.
6/18/71 U.S. Dept. of Commerce NAT'L OCEANIC & ATMOSPHERIC
ADMINISTRATION BULLETIN (page 4):
40 Acres of Shoreline Slides into Lake; Lake Survey Field
Teams Examine Damage
The Sleeping Bear Dunes area, located along Lake Michigan's
northeastern shore, with its miles of rolling sand dunes, is
a popular Michigan Tourist attraction. Earlier this spring,
an estimated 40 acres slid into the Lake with little or no
warning. The area is rather thinly populated, particularly
at that time of year, so there was no loss of life and damage
was considered minor. The sheer volume involved altered the
shoreline configuration and changed the water-depths in the
nearshore area. In order to find any possible hazards to
navigation resulting from the slide and to provide data on
the general effect of the slide on lake depths in the area,
a special survey is being conducted by Lake Survey Center.
After establishing the necessary horizontal control, the
field team, headed by Teddy Kuchciak, is now conducting
sounding surveys near where the slide occurred. Recreational
craft traffic in the area is fairly heavy in the summer, so
the work is being done essentially in response to the needs
of safe navigation. [See 1152-11, Par. 20, "The waters of
of the lakes will empty into the gulf."]
3/22/72 Shelbyville (Tenn.) Times-Gazette, Wednesday
Afternoon
Scientist Predicts Major Earth Quake
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A major earth quake is more than a
possibility, it's a probability in the Central Mississippi
Valley, according to Dr. Fred Followill, director of the
seismological observatory at the University of Mississippi.
"We can't forecast earthquakes, but the same as the weather
bureau can look at the average climate of an area, we can
look at the average seismic climate over a period and tell
what has been happening...and expect recurrence," he said.
He said statistical return periods have been established for
various types of earth quakes, "but whether we have been
correct, I guess mother nature will tell us..."
Dr. Followill's prime area of observation if the New Madrid
Fault.
Little noted outside the area, the fault is thought to extend
from, Ill., to somewhat south of Memphis.
It is of interest because in 1811-1812 it was the scene of
what researchers say was the most violent earth tremor ever
on the North America contient.
That tremor was really three separate major quakes, now
lumped together as the New Madrid Earthquake, and Followill
said contemporary reports say the ground continued to shake
for years.
Followill's worry, and he says it disturbs him considerably,
is the possibility of another major quake in the area - an
area where there have been few if any preparations for
earthquake.
Studies in China and Japan over the past 2,000 years, he
said, indicate that energy builds up over periods of time
in fault areas, and then is released over a short period of
time, in a tremor. The last major earthquake in this area
was at Charleston, Mo., in 1895 and was of an intensity that
could recur every 100 years. That was 77 years ago.
As for a major quake like that in 1812, however, Followill
feels it has been building up ever since.
"But," he says, "we do not know how much energy was released
then, or how fast it has been accumulating."
Based on his statistical evidence, Dr. Followill indicates,
there is a 90 per cent chance of another earthquake of 1895
magnitude within 20 years.
For this reason he has been encouraging work on quake
resistant design for buildings, and suggested that the
government establish a new network of seismographs in
the area.
Neither proposal has net with much acceptance, however,
since both are expensive.
St. Louis University has three seismographic stations in
Northwest Tennessee, the area that was the epicenter of the
New Madrid earthquake, he said.
Followill says his instruments have recorded more than 50
minor tremors along the Central Mississippi Valley in the
past six months, although only three of them were strong
enough to be felt by the public.
The epicenter of that
1811-12 series of tremors was
reportedly near Tiptonville, Tenn.
It listed up a 100 square mile area to form the Tiptonville
Dome and lowered a 30 square mile area, forming Reelfoot
Lake.
Major destruction was reported at New Madrid and Little
Prairie (now Caruthersville), Mo. Memphis had not yet been
founded.
Diaries dating from the time tell of the land thrown into
great rolling heaves, like the long swell of the seas. Many
of the ground swells burst apart at their crest. Some spewed
up countless tons of sand and water. Others left cracks more
than 100 feet deep.
Moderate damage was reported in St. Louis, Cincinnati and
Louisville and minor damage as far away as Columbia, S.C.,
and Savannah, Ga.
The Mississippi River rose six feet within a few minutes and
for a time ran upstream.
3/19/73 Monday, Ledger-Star
"...Dr. Gilbert A. Bollinger of Virginia Tech... 'The risk
of an earthquake in Norfolk is quite low. The threat is real
but minor'.
"...There have been earthquakes in Norfolk. The city has had
at least four since 1816. According to Tech's Department of
Geological Sciences, a fifth tremor took place shortly before
noon on April 19, 1918..." [See Source File Key #1152 in re
1152-11 for complete article in Ledger-Star, Columnist
Larry Bonko "IS NORFOLK SAFE from earthquakes?"]
3/30/73 Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT
GEODETIC SURVEY VERDICT
Tidewater Going Down, Down, Down
NORFOLK - We're sinking.
The city has sunk almost five inches sines 1934, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported this week.
If our sinking spell continues at its current rate, NOAA
says, we'll be down more than a foot six decades from now.
In that case, the Commerce Department agency warns, our
coastline may be much farther inland, since we're so flat
and so near sea level.
The rest of Tidewater is in the same sinking boat, NOAA says,
Portsmouth has sunk four-tenths of a foot in the last 40
years, for example.
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey team didn't measure the
subsidence (that's the technical term for sinking) of
Chesapeake or Virginia Beach, but they're certain to share
our fate, whatever it may be. The NOAA survey, which took
a year, indicates that the entire area surrounding Chesapeake
Bay has fallen from 1 1/2 to 6 inches since 1934.
The survey, which covered 1,034 miles of bay shoreland, was
requested by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of its
evaluation of the bay's resources.
The survey cost $375,000 and covered 17 localities from
Norfolk to Dover, Del.
Smithfield was found to be sinking fastest. It has slipped
half a foot since the 1934 measurements, and would be nearly
1 1/2 feet lower by 2034 at the current rate.
Williamsburg is No. 2 on the sinking list, falling .46 of a
foot with a projected fall of 1.32 feet in the next 60 years.
5/09/73 Wednesday, ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
Scientists Ponder Coastline Craters
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Scientists have discovered hundreds of
craters, some as large as a mile in diameter, in coastal
areas from New Jersey to Florida, and people have been
constructing buildings in them without realizing they were
there.
Some of the craters may still be forming, says Dr.
David E. Pettry of the agronomy department of Virginia
Tech at Blacksburg, Va., who is studying the formations
with scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
PETTRY indicated the higher the crater is above sea level,
the older it probably is. Homeowners living in the center
of one, he said, don't necessarily have anything to worry
about.
"We can't tell if there would be any danger," Pettry said.
"But we have found no indication of any instability."
The craters, from 200 to 300 feet to a mile across, first
were noticed in 1917 along Virginia's Eastern Shore, the long
finger of land that separates the Chesapeake Bay from the
Atlantic Ocean.
SINCE THEN a number of theories on their origin have
developed, including a rain of huge meteors.
NASA became involved in the crater study when high-altitude
photographs in 1971 showed just how common and widespread the
formations are along the east coast.
"People can live on the rim of one and never see it until
you point it out to them," Pettry said.
VIRGINIA'S Eastern Shore has become the focal point of the
study because the craters are so prevalent there. More than
150 have been noted in that area, ranging from sea level to
as high as 40 feet above sea level.
Those nearest the water apparently still are forming, leading
Pettry to note that all researchers who have studied the
formations "have agreed that water has something to do with,
or is responsible for, the formations."
J. Holland Scott Jr. of NASA's Wallops Station staff on the
Eastern Shore said he believes the craters probably are due
"to some tidal phenomenon."
ON THE Eastern Shore, which Pettry says was under as much as
a mile of water in prehistoric times, early settlers often
built their homes along the higher rims of the craters
without realizing they were there. Roads dating back to
those times often naturally follow the rims.
Pettry said he could see no danger to buildings constructed
in the centers of the craters, since modern technology has
nearly ruled out the possibility the depressions are caused
by settling of the land.
But, he said, "They will affect land use." The high-lying
rims are "more conducive" to certain types of construction,
the scientist said.
12/16/74 Virginian-Pilot, Monday
Mid-U.S. Quake 'Possible'
Geophysicist Recalls Past
WASHINGTON (UPI) -
One hundred sixty-three years ago today, a great earthquake
devastated parts of the Mississippi Valley and awakened
people as far away as Pittsburgh and Norfolk. A geophysicist
said that the same thing could happen again.
The shock occurred about 2 a.m. Dec. 16, 1811, and was
followed by two quakes just as severe in January and February
1812, to create what Dr. Otto W. Nuttli said "must have been
the most frightening sequence of earthquakes ever to occur
in the United States."
Nuttli, professor at St. Louis University, estimated from
newspaper accounts of the damage and from the vast area
covered that the quakes had a magnitude of about 8 on the
Richter scale. That would be almost in the class of the
1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Because the Earth's crust tends to soak up earthquake energy
in the West, but not in the East, the Mississippi Valley
quakes had the potential for damaging much greater areas.
Nuttli said in a telephone interview that slight-to-moderate
seismic activity continues in the central Mississippi Valley.
He said this indicates that a very large tremor could occur
again. He said there now is no way to predict when such
quakes would again hit the area, but he said that a similar
earthquake could strike as soon as tomorrow or as late as
several thousand years from now. A small magnitude 4 tremor
occurred last April.
"Perhaps the greatest danger of all arises from the sense of
complacency or perhaps total ignorance about the potential
threat of a large earthquake," Nuttli said. He noted that
people in the central an eastern states are far less aware of
tremors than Californians.
Nuttli said that the number of deaths from the 1811 quakes
is unknown but he said that the toll probably was not large
because the area was sparsely populated. Log cabins in the
area withstood the shaking well, but chimneys were reported
down as far away as Louisville, Ky.
"The scene was one of devastation in an area which is now
the southeast part of Missouri, the northeast part of
Arkansas, the southwest part of Kentucky, and the northwest
part of Tennessee," Nuttli said in an article in the
Earthquake Information Bulletin published by the U.S.
Geological Survey.
Land in one area was lifted about 10 feet, fissures formed
which were so broad that they could not be crossed by
horseback, and previously rich prairie land was ruined for
farming.
Nuttli said that entire Mississippi River islands
disappeared, river channels were cut apart, water spouted
from fissures and many boats capsized, drowning an unknown
number of people.
February - The shock apparently was centered near the town of
New Madrid, Mo., with the earlier quakes centered farther
south. Nuttli said the fault planes on which the ruptures
occurred appear to have paralleled the Mississippi River.
See Source File Key #270 for New York Times articles
concerning California earthquakes re
270-35.
See Source File Key #195 for
11/27/95 Virginian-Pilot
article on 1995 hurricane season in Hampton Roads re
195-32.
See Source File Key #1152 for Friday
7/12/96 The
Virginian-Pilot article concerning quake in Virginia Beach
area re 1152-11.
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation