Baja California Earthquake

[Bob_Roller]

Heard an odd thump in the house at about 1543 today, I have a grandfather clock, and a large wall clock with mechanical movements, both stopped at 1543, the 'weir door' on the pool, it acts as a 'check valve' for the pump intake for the skimmer, the part that draws water in from the top of the pool was banging, and there was no wind and the pump was not on .

About 15 minutes later, I see on CNN, that a magnitude 7.2 earthquake had just occured south of Mexicali, Mexico, about 210 miles west/southwest from me .

[Mike V]

Tell you what fellas, that was a pretty violent shake today.  I'll never get used to them. And the aftershocks are firing off with regularity. If you go to the USGS web site the entire state is lit up from San Diego to Sacramento. Looks like the San Andreas is blowing off a little steam.

Do rubber cows float?

Mike V. / San DDDiiiieeeaaagggooo

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Wow.

Mexicali, Baja

[Bob_Roller]

Just a heads up for residents of the east central US, the largest earthquake that has happened in the US, occurred at a mid-continent fault, at New Madrid, Missouri, about 100 miles or so north of Memphis,Tennessee in 1812 .

It changed the course of the Mississippi river, and rang bells in Boston and Philadelphia .


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_New_Madrid_earthquake

[Melena]

I was wondering if you felt that Bob.  I was just sitting up here listening to the radio when I heard about it.  

Mike V. - you're pretty close to it there in San Diego.  You still feeling all the aftershocks?  I didn't realize that they felt it all the way up to Sacramento.  Must be that soft valley soil there that the shock waves can roll through.  We didn't feel a thing here in Sonoma County.

There was a couple of small earthquakes up by the Geysers here.  But it was a normal thing for the area as it is quite active geologically.  I didn't feel those either.  So far so good.   The last one I felt was a light quake over by Pt. Reyes.  Before that it was the Loma Prieta quake.  

Too many big quakes all over the earth.  Hmmmm, I'd better get my bookcases strapped down.  I keep moving them around so I haven't done that.

[Mike V]

Mike V. - you're pretty close to it there in San Diego.You still feeling all the aftershocks?I didn't realize that they felt it all the way up to Sacramento.Must be that soft valley soil there that the shock waves can roll through.We didn't feel a thing here in Sonoma County

Melena,

We continued having some aftershocks here this morning, a 3.1 I believe. Pretty exciting yesterday, the aftershocks were firing off with pretty consistent regularity. I think things have calmed down a bit today. No damage to the house I can see although a couple of my upstairs office drawers were rocked open and some of the wife's bric-a-brac were rearranged a bit. The small event by Sacramento was a result of an unrelated event. The USGS map is pretty interesting to look at with all the activity yesterday.  Also interesting to see the events crawl along both sides of the central valley.
 http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/special/California_Nevada.php

I hate these things, I've never gotten used to them. Maybe I should fit some floatation devices to the rubber cows in the garage.

[Melena]

Thanks for posting that link to the map.  Very interesting to see where the earthquakes cluster.  There are always lots of little quakes in California.  Most of them you can't even feel.  

I've always found earthquakes fascinating.  I did take alot of geology classes when I first went to college.  

[Bob_Roller]

I've gone through the area about 35 miles or so north of Calexico, California, around the  Brawley, California area, the area has seen an explosion of geothermal electrical generating plants in the last 5 years .

They pump untold millions of gallons of water down into the ground, then 'harvest' the steam, to turn turbines to generate electricity .

I wonder if this has had an effect on the fault system in the area ?

[azcycle]

I didn't feel it... I was out riding the r65.  I was told by friends that they felt it around Tucson.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I've gone through the area about 35 miles or so north of Calexico, California, around the  Brawley, California area, the area has seen an explosion of geothermal electrical generating plants in the last 5 years .

They pump untold millions of gallons of water down into the ground, then 'harvest' the steam, to turn turbines to generate electricity .

I wonder if this has had an effect on the fault system in the area ?

There are too many humans making too many demands on this planet.
We need to scale back our use of energy; that includes making babies.

[DeeG]

Wow.

Mexicali, Baja

Wow.  I had heard there were several buildings that collapsed.  That looks a lot like the damage that occurred in the 1971 Sylmar quake.  Freeways, hospitals, etc.  Before the big push for EQ 'proof' building standards.  I was a little kid when it hit, thought it was the most awesome thing I had ever lived through
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_San_Fernando_earthquake

 Sylmar was the first one I remember experiencing.

Lived pretty much on top of this one, no damage to my house, but when I came off the hill into Whitter...Holy smokes!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Whittier_Narrows_earthquake

This one was kinda cool, woke up about three minutes before it hit.  EQ ESP???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Northridge_earthquake


I miss the quakes.     haven't felt one since Northridge.
Yeah, I know, I'm kinda strange.