Earthquake in NJ April 5th, 2024
While several news reports and scientists are covering this phenomenon, I wanted to take a bit of time for research myself and learn more about this event. I am originally from NJ, and visit there often, but I missed this!
My family in South Jersey several miles away from the epicenter felt the quake, and it was an interesting experience for sure. Thankfully no injuries have been reported. This earthquake occurred at an ancient fault called the Ramapo Fault. It is a very complicated system of fault lines with two or three other fault lines essentially running off the main Ramapo fault, similar to what a water tributary system looks like.
This main earthquake that occurred yesterday was only 2 miles deep, making the waves from the epicenter easier to travel to the surface. The aftershocks that have occurred are deeper (5 miles, 6 miles), and only felt in the vicinity.
Earthquakes do occur here, just not very often. It is considered an inactive fault, however, has the potential to activate at any time. I see some news articles posting dramatic numbers, so just be wary of what you're reading. And no, the upcoming Solar Eclipse has no impact on earthquakes and other geological processes.
To get into the science a bit behind the earthquake, they occur when the Earth's crust slips, along a fault or tectonic plate (they are related, but not the same thing). This could occur vertically or horizontally or fold up over each other, which creates mountains and volcanoes. There are mountains in this region of the East Coast, so it makes sense there were historical geological processes that occurred. This particular slip yesterday was an oblique reverse and strike slip. The oblique reverse describes the vertical and horizontal movement along a fault line, and the portion of rock that lies above the fault plane moved upward. The strike slip refers to horizontal movement of the crust past one another. So, this earthquake involved a lot of moving parts (pun intended).
To get a better picture of what the Earth's crust did at the fault line, imagine an Oreo cookie. You split the top portion of the cookie in half to create the fault. Then slide the left or right side of the cookie into the other side (using the cream as a surface), one side of the cookie will go over top the other. Then move the cracked part of the cookie in a vertical motion up and down. This is a demonstration of what happened that caused the earthquake. Next there were waves that traveled upward from the fault line to the surface. You can demonstrate these waves with a slinky, holding one end and moving it vertically or horizontally while the other end is on the ground. You will see a wave-like motion in the slinky.
There have been several aftershocks since the main quake yesterday, and the USGS expects more throughout the week. The ancient fault lines are in a readjustment phase, causing the aftershocks. This is very interesting to read about and research geological processes, I plan on continuing to look more into whatever further research results from this event.
As far as weather, the big event upcoming Monday is the Solar eclipse. There are several cloud forecasts being released but honestly, I do not want to focus on something that is so unpredictable. During no other weather event are meteorologists looking at the cloud forecast, because it is so difficult to forecast and get correct. I also enjoy astronomy, and I know that cloud forecasts occur, then it ends up clearing in time to have a nice view of a celestial event. I have my solar eclipse viewing glasses ready. Virginia is not going to be in the path of totality, but it will still be a neat sight at the percent we will get. Hopefully it remains clear, but if it doesn't, I say try anyway because I have seen people get images of an eclipse through clouds.
Stay safe everyone, thanks for reading! Here are some helpful links to stay on top of the earthquakes and where I looked for my research.
M 4.8 - 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake (usgs.gov)
No comments:
Post a Comment