While working on SLE news propped up in my bed, I felt the entire room shake, at first I thought it was one of my kids playing a prank on me like they do, because my bed literally began to shake as if someone grabbed my bedpost and was shaking it. This continued for a good 5-10 seconds, I abruptly got up to look for the source pulling the prank and realized it wasn’t just my bed moving but everything, including the heavy stained glass light fixture in my foyer. I called to my daughter, who was watching television and asked her if she felt it and within a few minutes news started to flood my iphone from family and friends including all of the news sources I have on push notice.
With natural disasters seeming to come more frequently, I never would have thought an earthquake would hit this close to home. I live in a pretty safe place in Pennsylvania and the most I have ever felt was weakened hurricane winds and rain coming from the Atlantic, a few feet of snow, some flooding in the lower regions and tornado warnings, but nothing like this!
Only in the past five years have I seen an increase in the strength of these natural disasters and can now add possible earthquakes to the list.
As I write this, peeps in Washington DC and the Pentagon are evacuating for safety. Here in the northeast part of Pa, there doesn’t seem to be any damage, I am safe and my home is intact.
I hope that those directly affected by this event are now safe and for those around the world just hearing the news, here is the latest developments from where I am.
What caused this earthquake in Virginia?
According to my research of tectonic plates, the east coast of the United States and Virginia where this latest earthquake took place are in the middle of a tectonic plate called the North American Plate. It is one of the 15 major masses of the earth’s crust that moves above the mantle.
The Eastern shore where Virginia Beach is located, is on the edge of the continent. The North American Plate meets the mid-Atlantic ridge in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This is the source that created this earthquake. What is happening is magma is slowly rises and is pushing Virginia and the rest of the continental plate towards China. This is happening at a rate of 2-3 centimeters per year.
Below you can see a map showing the fault lines around the world and where the plates are. Along the yellow lines, the plates are moving creating the energy to shake up this world and remind us all to stay on our toes and learn more about the world we live in.
Learn more about Earthquakes Here
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments will be reviewed and posted within 24 hours. Please note any abusive content or outside promotional links may not be approved.