North American Plate Shakes Harder

April 22, 2008

Elaine Meinel Supkis

The North American continent has been shaken this month by an increasingly worrisome number of earthquakes. A number of them have been at the top of the San Andreas fault system, the others have been concentrated at the New Madrid Fault region. Both of these faults are the worst earthquake hazards in the US. Then there have been some very strange, less than 1km deep quakes in Yellowstone, the most dangerous volcanic caldera in the entire hemisphere as well as at the lower end of the San Andreas and in the heartland of Canada. These events are being pushed by a very, very active Australian plate that has been shoving northwards faster than any continental plate on earth, on a scale of tens of times faster than the other continents. The chances of a major earthquake grows and should NOT be ignored by the many millions living in the chief hazard zones!

From IRIS, the government quake monitors.

Below is an IRIS chart showing the location, depth and power of these earthquakes. Note that the vast majority are where the triangle of plates intersect with the mighty North American plate. All these ocean plates are being shoved relentlessly under the North American plate by the engine of Australia that is chugging merrily northwards at an astonishing rate.

North America is an odd place. The western half of our continent which is, like Eurasia, a conglomeration of many old land masses that have floated around this planet for a billion years. This queer mix of land masses are of differing thicknesses and compositions. The eastern side of the continent was rammed into Africa many millions of years ago when life land was very young. This pushed up huge, towering mountains. These have worn down to comparatively small mini-mountains today. I live on top of such a former mountain. The plateau that rises upwards less than a mile away to the west of my own place is of a totally different geological mix than my side of Rt. 22 that runs down the fault line between the proto-North American continent and the African landmass which got stuck to North America back when dinosaurs ruled the roost.

For some reason and no one knows why, yet, even though the easter half of our continent has a compressed mountain area the whole length and the western half is extremely compressed and has one of the bigger mountain ranges on earth, the middle of the continent is very depressed and extremely prone to very violent but quite infrequent earthquakes. This has given people in half of the nation a false sense of security.

Looking at the map, I am quite alarmed about the San Andreas fault. This one is one of the three best-known fault on earth. It HAS to have periodic, huge earthquakes. This isn't a question. It is a fact. And these huge blow-outs come at least once every 50 years or so on various points along the fault line. The longer the wait between quakes, the worse it is when it happens. The irresponsibility of the entire culture that has build upon this mobile landmass is most astonishing as I will show in this article.

First, let's go back to the statistics: All of the quakes just off the ocean in Oregon are at the very dangerous level of 10 km. For some reason, this seems to be an important dividing line in the earth's crust. Quakes at this level can cause tremendous surface changes and tsunamis at sea. Then there are the three quakes this last few weeks that have occurred right at the surface! Yellowstone: any quakes there should make us sit up and notice. By far, it is the most dangerous thing on this planet. It is one of the most active and biggest calderas on earth. The destructive powers of this place is unparalleled. It can even beat out nuclear war on the scale of destruction it can do! The other place with a very dangerous caldera system is Indonesia. Humanity was nearly wiped out by a major explosion there 760,000 years ago. Humans, back then, just as today, preferred to live on the shores of the seas. The tsunami from that event wiped out a great number of humans. Then came the Long Winter. Humans that could figure out how to survive under these circumstances were our ancestors. The ability to make fire and use skins was quite valuable in the mid-latitudes. With this new skill, humans poured into the areas where the glaciers ruled during the last Ice Age.

Earth changes are the engine of human evolution. Not to mention, Mother Nature can re-arrange the earth's furniture and changes the temperature drastically.

The shaking along the curvature of Indonesia and across the prow of Australia plowing the Pacific northwards have been intensely active since the Great Boxing Day Quake. And the actions released by that mega-event are still at work. It will be several more years before the earth finishes this latest readjustment. Since I am more than a little worried about earthquakes, time to review how to protect ourselves. This advice is from Channel 5 in Oregon:

What to do before an earthquake

Know your safety zone and hazard locations

Find safe spots in each room – under a sturdy table or desk, against an inside wall where nothing can fall on you, or in a doorway.
Find the danger spots in each room – windows, fireplaces, tall, unsecured furniture, cupboards, hanging objects.

Eliminate the hazards

Know where and how to shut off all utilities.
Be sure your house is firmly anchored to its foundation.
Anchor overhead lighting fixtures.
Store bottled foods, glass, china and other breakables on low shelves or in cabinets.
Install strong latches on cupboards.
Place large or heavy objects on lower shelves.
Fasten shelves to walls. Bolt bookcases, china cabinets, and other tall furniture to wall studs.
Repair defective electrical wiring, leaky gas and inflexible utility connections.
Fasten water heater to wall studs

I advise people do this even in non-danger zones. I have all my things either anchored or set up so they won't endanger us if there is a problem. All my cans are at lap level or lower, for example. Bolting book cases and other things to the walls is highly recommended. Children climbing the outside of bookcases have been killed when this falls on them, just for example. As for storing water: you never know when you need emergency water and can't get it. When the Northeast had that huge, mysterious blackout several years ago, many people discovered they had no water. They had to buy it from the stores. Keeping good batteries, a battery-powered radio as well as covering any refrigerators or freezers with blankets during an outage is recommended. I didn't know this during the great NYC blackout in the mid-1970s. I lost all my food. Now, I toss a moving blanket over my appliances when there is an outage. Except we have alternative energy now and don't even notice these until we see the village below disappear into the darkness.

Gas can and does blow up. And it can burn down a city. The main hazard in earthquakes is fire. Now we come to yet another issue: food. Right now, the whole planet is being convulsed by the demons of inflation launched by the central bankers, it is now showing up as massive inflation and hoarding with food. And the one thing one should do is always have a store of food to survive. Stores are now restricting how much food one can buy due to a global shortage due to everyone hoarding to prevent paying for more inflation. But hoarding food is probably one of the smarter things one can do in preparation for a bad geological event.

This is why we should always track food inflation and bite it off at the beginning, not lie about it or refuse to track it. I am absolutely FURIOUS with our government for being so stupid. Anyway, a store of canned and dry goods is very good to have in emergencies and I am a big, big believer in having a good storehouse at home. Certainly, the Mormons do this.

Prepare a disaster supply kit for home and car. It should include:

First aid kit and essential medications
Canned food and can opener
At least three gallons of water per person
Protective clothing, rainwear, and bedding or sleeping bags
Battery-powered radio, flashlight, and extra batteries
Special items for infant, elderly, or disabled family members
Written instructions for how to turn off gas, electricity, and water if authorities advise you to do so (Remember, you'll need a professional to turn natural gas service back on.)
Keep essentials, such as a flashlight and sturdy shoes, by your bedside.
Keep copies of all important documents in a safety deposit box and keep the key with you.

Instructions for family members who are caught away from home in an earthquake are good. The main one is to NOT TRY TO COME HOME. But rather, to wait for contact. In general, every disaster I have experienced, everyone pulls together try to help strangers and will share food, water and shelter with total strangers. This is the most wonderful part of humanity. We are capable of being tremendously wonderful. It all depends on social factors such as not encouraging, enjoying or egging on, ethnic cleansing.

What to do during an earthquake

Drop, cover, and hold on. If you are indoors, get under sturdy furniture, if possible. Stay away from windows and objects that could fall. Do not go outdoors until shaking stops and you know that it is safe to move.

If you are in a high rise building, drop, cover and hold. It is possible that the sprinklers and fire alarm may go off. Try to stay in the building on the same floor - an evacuation may not be necessary. Wait for instructions from safety personnel as they will need to differentiate between serious structural damage and damage to contents or decorative elements. Do not use elevators.

If you are outdoors move to a clear area away from trees, signs, buildings, or electrical wires and poles. If you are on a sidewalk near a building, move away from any possible falling brick, glass, plaster and other debris. If possible take cover, stay low, and protect your head and neck.

If you are in car, pull over to the side of the road as quickly and safely as possible - but do NOT pull over and stop until you are clear of bridges, overpasses, power poles, and power lines.

Downed power lines are very dangerous. Even if the power is off, they are to be avoided. Another thing that is good to have is a supply of tarps. I lived in a tent for ten years. I am a big, big user of tarps. And ropes. With those, one can make a pretty fine structure. Certainly, it beats being stuck out in the open. Even if the house is sound, repeat earthquakes make it dangerous to be inside after a 9 mag quake.

Click here for the Berkeley Parents Network Advice about Earthquake Safety

Time to look at old newspapers! I am a big believer that our ancestors weren't stupid. But they do what we do: wonderful in emergencies, stupid in good times. So it is in California. My family has lived there since Mr. Baker went about the state, naming things in 1848. Being one of my ancestors. The earthquakes too them by surprise. But they figured, if they built smart, etc, all would be well. Unfortunately, people don't like listening to old timers so if there is no earthquake for 25 years, newcomers flood in and ignore the old timers. My grandaddy used to get grim amusement, warning newcomers to Pasedena about floods and earthquakes.

'See those houses? They are DOOMED,' he would say grimly with a smile. And sure enough, they would end up doomed. Here are some stories from a San Andreas quake in October, 1868:

San Francisco Morning Call Editorial
Thursday, October 22, 1868

The "Temblores"– They Prove the Strength
and Weakness of San Francisco.

The earthquake shocks of yesterday very naturally created a great amount of panic among the people of the city, being, as they were, the heaviest ever known in this portion of the American Continent. To say that there was not a great excitement, a "great scare," a panic, would be to assert what is not the truth. Under the circumstances it was but natural that people should be alarmed, and that great excitement should ensue; but the shakes of Wednesday served this good purpose: they prove at once the strength and weakness of the city.
Though, unfortunately, lives were lost, fortunately the earthquake showed us how to prevent the loss of life, and the little damage done (compared to what might have been done) proved that with a sensible system of building we have no more to fear from earthquakes than the people of other communities have to fear from hurricanes and floods.

That property was damaged to a considerable extent is true; it is also true that some lives were lost. That houses were destroyed was owing to the ignorance, greed, or stupidity of those who built them. The great majority of the brick buildings stood the shock without trouble. All would have done so had their builders exercised common sense and a proper regard for the welfare of the city. That lives were lost is owing to the insane policy of running buildings up to the height of four and five stories, and of covering them with fragile plaster ornaments.

As we said three years ago, we now say: the city authorities should prohibit the erection of buildings of more than thirty-five feet in height. They should also prohibit the erection of "fire-walls," and the other man-traps in the shape of cornices, brackets, and other "filigree" ornaments on buildings, which are not only offensive to good taste, but do endanger life.

The lives lost yesterday are not chargeable to the earthquake, but to the vanity, greed and meanness of those who erected the buildings. Yesterday's earthquake was undoubtedly the heaviest the city has ever experienced. It served to prove what we have all along contended was the fact, that a sensible system of building is only necessary to make this city as safe as any in the world.

When we consider the lives and property destroyed, we find that they are not as great as those sacrifices in the floods of Baltimore and New York, or in other visitations of Providence which have afflicted out sister cities of the Union. We have, therefore, reason to feel grateful for the immunities we have enjoyed, and the comparatively safe region and climate in which our fortunes have been cast.

Seeing the effects of this quake, they sensibly decided to have building codes and stop the construction of inappropriate buildings on landfills, for example. After more than 100 years, a bunch of people died in these landfills in San Francisco in the most recent quake. Due to population pressure, political corruption as builders bribe politicians to overturn sane building codes, the building of dangerous housing right on top of the San Andreas and other fault lines continues to this day. And building on landfills that turn to jelly continue! There is no stopping this.

And it is very sad, it shows how deliberately stupid we get when we see dollar signs.

After the earliest recorded quake in SF, they had this report:

Daily Morning Call
Friday, October 23, 1868

Board of Supervisors.

Resolved, That the Building Committee be requested to provide suitable rooms for the use of the various officers of the City Government, and report for the approval of this Board. Adopted.

Resolved, That the Fire Wardens are hereby requested to examine the fire-walls of those buildings which are in a dangerous condition, and notify the respective owners to immediately remove or secure the same, and erect or cause to be erected barricades in front of the same.

Dr. [R. Beverly] Cole, who came in at this moment thought that the resolutions adopted for the protection of property were not sufficiently comprehensive. He had with reluctance left an alarmed family, and his habitation, which had been nearly demolished. He desired that each member of the Board should be invested with the power to erect barricades around buildings in danger of being thrown down.

Supervisor Ashbury contended that every member had this power, but he did hope that none but architects and persons competent should be authorized to tear down walls or buildings.

See how organized they were? Yet, when the next one hit in 1906, the wild, out of control building all fell with a big boom and the flames did the rest.

UC Berkeley Earthquake Engineering

Daily Morning Call
Friday, October 23, 1868 How to Act in Case of an Earthquake.

As soon as people indoors feel the shock of an earthquake, they rush wildly for the streets, and in so doing they invariably court the danger they seek to avoid. Most of the casualties of Wednesday were thus occasioned. People should remember in any case, even though the worst may happen, they are safer indoors than out. The best place is near the doorway, as usually, the walls there would be the very last to fall. Whenever the walls of a building tumble down, they fall outwardly, and thereby endanger the lives of those who may be in the street, while those inside the walls escape unhurt.

Usually, no more than the walls of the upper story fall. Where the buildings are high, the falling débris reaches the middle of the street. Those in the lower stories of such buildings are as safe as they can be anywhere in a city, in case of an earthquake, and tenfold more safe than they would be if in the street. We know that it is impossible for most people to reflect coolly when a startling calamity overtakes them, but if they would school themselves beforehand they would be able to act in a cool and sensible manner in case of an emergency.

San Francisco Real Estate Circular
For the Month of October 1868

The Earthquake and Real Estate

The earthquake with its scares and panics is now one of the things that were. Since it occurred, hundreds of property owners have been anxiously watching to see what effect it would have upon our real estates. While many persons prophesied death and disaster to the city generally, few thought that the bad effect of the visitation would be anything but temporary on the value of real estate. But events have proved that it did not have a depressing effect upon property for even a day. Diligent enquiry among others, and our own observation, revealed not one solitary person who wished to sell any of his real estate, on the day of the earthquake, or since, at anything below the highest ruling rate. At twelve o'clock on that day, while the lesser shocks were still being felt, Messrs. Dore & Co. held an auction sale, at which the bidding was spirited and the prices obtained fully up to the average. Everybody expected to see this sale postponed, and when it was not no one thought that the auctioneer would have any bidders, but the latter was on hand as usual.

The late shock will undoubtedly have the effect of keeping the prices of lots upon made ground (city slip, water lots and South Beach property) stationary, if it does not actually make the retrograde. Only the best built and anchored houses are safe upon made ground, in such an earthquake as that of the 21st ult. Such buildings cost so much that tenants generally will not pay a rental that would yield the owner a fair income, and as long as this is true, owners who build to rent will not, unless otherwise compelled to, erect the best structures. But there is a prejudice against brick buildings upon made ground, even when they are built in the best manner, and this being the case, it seems hardly possible that a fall in prices of lots upon such ground can be avoided.

Previously to the late shake-up it was fully expected that the most bustling portion of the water front would be located east of First and south of Brannan street. But, if we do not forget the warning given us by the late visitation, the locality named must lose its supremacy. Heavy brick buildings are not safe upon made ground, and heavy warehouses are necessary to commerce. Such warehouses in future must not venture any nearer to the water than solid ground will allow them to go. The erection of large brick building upon swamps must be stopped. Land just inside of the high water mark certainly advance in price. Lots for residential purposes, all over the city, but especially on the outskirts and on rising ground, will receive an impetus in price, because many of those who have heretofore lived with their families in brick hotels, and in houses where furnished rooms are kept, will now purchase land and erect frame homesteads for their own occupancy upon them. Hotel keepers (a small class) will suffer by this change, but tradesmen generally and the real estate business will be greatly benefited. Children, too, will undoubtedly be better brought up in their parents' homes than they possibly be in the unhealthy atmosphere and associations of hotels.

To sum up: neither the real estate nor any other interest of the city has suffered by the earthquake, while the warning it has given us almost ensures us against future disasters from the partial falling of outside ornaments and badly constructed walls. we have all seen that our weakness lies in erecting large and slight brick buildings upon made ground; we have been taught to dispense with heavy outside ornamentation, which however desirable for show, must give way to necessity and the safety of human life; and finally, we think we may safely say that since we have not, during the twenty years occupation of California, had any dangerous shock of earthquake, we have pretty reliable proof that our State does not lie within the region of dangerous internal disturbance.

See? Within days of the 1868 quake, they knew that brick buildings, which are safer in fires, are NOT safer in earthquakes. Notice the sensible call to end heavy outside decorations...which went right over the cliff thanks to the Victorian mania for dense, marble and plaster massive decorations that were piled one on top fo the other. Note the old photo above: a wedding cake of massive exterior heavy decorations. Fashion always trumps sober care.

So good luck to everyone in earthquake zones! There is nothing one can do but pressure governments to have STRONG building codes. To pressure governments to set aside emergency funds! And to bring home our National Guard back to America! Good grief! After Katrina showed us very clearly why! Yet the National Guard still sits mired in the Mesopotamia Mess.

The Mississippi Valley in particular should demand their states do a thorough check of the security of buildings. This place is very underbuilt for earthquakes.

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Comments

[avan]

there's this Einstein theory, also called one of his biggest fears, that talks about the north pole melting, ice caskets of polar ice
mixing with common water making the oceans arise producing a slightly change in planet earth inclination, speeding up the continental masses movement, like a cereal bowl with too much milk. maybe this have somenthing to do with this.

btw there's not an quake alarm system in that region? theres one in mexico city that warns ppl, at least one minute b4 a quake hits the city, apparently is the time it takes the wave to reach the place from the original point in the coast

[blues]

Physics is not one of my fields (electronics is, but it has a different emphasis). This is an interesting point. My guess is the poles melting will cause all hell to break loose. The polar caps represent "trigatons" of mass!

Ans this mass is concentrated at the north and south poles. The earth spins, and this cause the planet to be — somewhere in the deep bowels of analytic geometry there has got to be a term for this — slightly pumpkin, ot mackintosh apple shaped. "Fat." sorta. This would seem to imply that the mass that had been at the poles would generally move to the equator. The net result would be that the rotation of the earth would slow down. And we should assume that all the tectonic plates would not take kindly to this. Specifically, they would slide over the mantle west-to-east, probably some faster than others.

Fasten your seat belts, folks. This Titanic is about to perform a hard landing.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

The huge, huge change in the weight holding down Antactica: if this continent launches itself northwards as the speed of Australia, watch out!

Same with Greenland which could shove northwards. Oddly enough, this will increase the chance of an Ice Age. But Antarctica: this is very likely the main engine of tectonic plate movements if there is no ice.

[blues]

If the whole crust starts to move rapidly in any direction, it will be moving over supervolcanos. Yikes.

[John Nicholson]

The moon's orbiting around the planet steadies the planet's axis and it's rotational speed. In the earth-moon rotational and orbiting system, the respective orbs' rotations slow as the moon and earth increase orbital distance.

The Boxing Day earthquake was so powerful that it slightly changed the earth's diameter.

There was a 5.3 scale earthquake in the South Atlantic last night. This was some 150 kilometers southeast of the coastal city of São Vicente in Brazil's State of São Paulo. The quake was felt, though very slightly, in Rio de Janeiro and more strongly so in São Paulo itself. This was an exceedingly rare event. I don't have information on the depth of this earthquake.

[avan]

just for the record, not long ago a ice plank in the north pole the size of New York gave off not long ago is prob floating around some where