March 18th, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
My apologies, 5.7.
I live in Utah, just north of Salt Lake. Pretty wild morning. I grew up in Southern California, so pretty used to earthquakes, but the one this morning was the longest one I've ever felt -- lasted a good 15 seconds. Fortunately, we're all just fine. I've got 4 little kids and they were more curious and excited than freaked out.
Felt 3 aftershocks within 45 minutes afterwards.
Regarding your 5.9 vs 5.7. It's a 5.7 here in Salt Lake near the epicenter (just west of Salt Lake), but was actually measured as a 5.9 in southern Utah, which I thought was interesting. So you're right on both accounts ;).
For those who don't know, much of Northern Utah lies near or along the Wasatch Fault, which runs along the Wasatch Mountain Range. This was the largest earthquake Utah has had since 1992.
I hope it's far enough away that it hasn't damaged any of the arches in Arches NP or the spires in Bryce, which are two of my most favorite places in the world.
Arches National Park is about 250 miles from the epicenter. Bryce Canyon is about 275 miles from the epicenter. Can't verify if there's any damage, but I would assume most, if not all, are intact. So far, only damage being reported is close to the epicenter (within 10 miles or so).
March 18th, 2020 at 12:31 PM ^
Doomsday cults - activate!
Just wait for the moon to turn red.
Interesting how pizzagate is trending on twitter right now despite being debunked 3 years ago.
March 18th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
wow, grab your wives and run, feels like the end is near
March 18th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
Are you crazy? You can't take ALL of them, just grab Plan A and maybe Plan B if you've got the trunk space.
" ...and which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"
March 18th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
Here's some info from USGS:
Tectonic Summary
The March 18, 2020 M5.7 earthquake north of Magna, Utah (just west of Salt Lake City) occurred as the result of normal faulting in the shallow crust of the North America plate. The focal mechanism solution for the earthquake indicates slip occurred on a moderately dipping fault striking either to the northwest, or to the south-southeast. The style, location, and depth of slip are consistent with an earthquake on the complex Wasatch fault system. This earthquake is located in the Intermountain seismic belt, a prominent north-south-trending zone of recorded seismicity in the Intermountain West, including the Wasatch Front urban corridor. The ISB region is 1000 km east of the primary North America–Pacific plate boundary which runs along the west coast of the United States.
The Wasatch Front, encompassing Salt Lake City, has experienced infrequent, moderate-to-large earthquakes in the past. There are 26 documented M5+ earthquakes within 250 km of the March 18, 2020 event in the combined University of Utah Seismograph Stations and USGS earthquake catalog, which stretches back to the late 19th century. The largest recorded earthquake was a M6.6 earthquake in March 1934, in Hansel Valley on the north shore of the Great Salt Lake. In September 1962, a M5.0 earthquake occurred in a very similar location to today’s M 5.7 event, with strong shaking observed locally. Geologic investigations of the Wasatch fault indicate that large (M ~7) earthquakes occur about every 1300 years near Salt Lake City, with the most recent large earthquake about 1400 years ago.
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/uu60363602/executive#shakemap
March 18th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
It was a little scary. Shook for about 20 seconds. I've experienced earthquakes before both here in Utah and when I was living in the bay area but, it'd been a while. It's definitely disorienting. Anyway, it seems as though things are mostly OK, although 30K people are without power. Hopefully that gets resolved fairly quickly.
March 18th, 2020 at 12:52 PM ^
I experienced one when I lived in the SF bay area..... you feel small
20 seconds is a long time, hopefully there aren't any natural gas leaks or water supply issues
There are some reported gas leaks that are being addressed -- I'm sure more will come out as the day goes on.
The airport had a water pipe break resulting in flooding. No flights out until at least 4:00 pm was the last report I saw.
Well that oughta shake things up a bit.
It's no one's fault.
sure, but some people cave in under the stress anyway.
As if we already didn't have enough on our tectonic plates to deal with.
What's next—locusts?
If there’s a plague of locusts next week, I will immediately become a believer that it’s the end of days. Not even kidding.
What about monkeys? Now that the tourism is next to non-existant there's no one to feed these guys. Lucky they're vegetarians...or are they?
Is that MGoUser RGard leading that pack of monkeys? Sure looks like it to me...
Locusts have been decimating Africa for months. The media has been too virus obsessed to notice.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/in-pictures-51618188
At this point just go ahead and start sending the other plagues. 2020 has been awful enough already. How much worse can boils, locusts and perpetual darkness really make it?
Remember those memes about how one of the recent years (2016? 2017? I forget) was the worst ever because like, 3 celebrities died? Thank goodness we're not relieving that national nightmare.
Locusts is currently on-going
Yeah, we felt it for sure in the heart of Salt Lake valley. Several University of Utah buildings have been evacuated due to potential gas leaks, but we had to stay in place due to being "critical employees" as pharmacists. Just working while the rest of the building is out!
The day the music died...
Moroni dropped his golden trumpet from atop the SLC Mormon Temple.