Earthquake! (for some values of)

[geekchick]

Small Earthquake Felt in D.C. and Northern Virginia
1.8 1.9 1.8 according to the USGS. Californians, you may commence snickering about the fact that it makes news.

The U.S. Geological Survey is placing the epicenter of the rumble at 1 mile southwest of Annandale. Ft. Belvoir is located 15 miles south of Annandale. WTOP is going ahead and calling this event an earthquake, even though officials at Ft. Belvoir have said their blasting may have been responsible."

(A Fort Belvoir spokesman followed up to say that it wasn't them, their blasting is set for 4:30 PM.)

Comments

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

I'm in Northern Nevada, where last week we had over 300 small quakes of varying intensity between 1.0 and 4.7.

Do I get to laugh too?

[geekchick]

Sure, join us! :D

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

The smallest I've ever felt was a 2.0, and it was centered 1/4 mile below the surface, about three blocks from my house.

Geology's weird. :)

[geekchick]

I did not know this: "East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast." (from the USGS info page) Neat!

[fenriss.livejournal.com]

So, somebody on Twitter started spouting that there had been an explosion in Falls Church. He claimed to have been on a conference call with someone who had "seen and heard an explosion." There was a brief panic.

Wait, no, it was an earthquake. Wait, no, it was Ft. Belvoir. No, Ft. Belvoir says it wasn't them...

People certainly are jumpy and strange.

[geekchick]

http://also-huey.livejournal.com/182356.html
Huey says there was an earth-shattering kaboom, and that was pretty much it.

[curiousangel.livejournal.com]

I'm reasonably certain that overly-spicy Mexican food can cause a 1.8 -- at least, given some of the people I've been around afterward, I'd believe it.

[geekchick]

Yeah, the comments on DCist went there pretty much immediately. =) My favorite so far though: "I was wondering why I was swaying around earlier but then I remembered I've been sniffing Sharpies all morning."

[3fgburner.livejournal.com]

Per the USGS, epicenter was just outside the Beltway, between Braddock Rd and Little River Tpk. Call it 5-6 blocks southeast of the NVCC campus. Hypocenter was 10km / 6.2 mi down.

Incidentally, there was a 3.2 about an hour ago, off the southeast coast of Hawaii's Big Island.

[elgecko.livejournal.com]

That's not an earthquake! In downtown Atlanta, they call that "bass".

[geekchick]

Heh. =)

[kellfire.livejournal.com]

The Falls Church Post Office definitely felt it! Kinda weird, but I never would have guessed it to be an earthquake.

[geekchick]

I was wondering if you'd felt it over where you are. I'm out in Warrenton, so completely unaware of it other than the posts on DCist and the Post.

[argh-jim.livejournal.com]

1.9? I don't even thing you can FEEL anything less than 3.0!

[geekchick]

Apparently around here you can. =) I'm too far away to have felt it though.

Hm. And in a sign of how oblivious I am today anyway, I just looked out my window and thought "Huh. Puddles in the parking lot. When did it rain?"

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Did you feel anything?

[geekchick]

No, I'm more than 40 miles away. Didn't feel a thing.

[malefica-v.livejournal.com]

"Did the earth move for you too?"

I spent my misspent childhood on the Left Coast. I can remember waking up to rumbles in the 5.0-5.6 range and wondering if the very fat feline had jumped on the bed again.