Anchorage gets a wake-up call

6.1 Richter earthquake this morning, just after nine.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h2iR966V721MBttrK1j49ukH4RZAD95TN6B80

I was amid the contemplation of the possibility that I might start to begin to commence getting out of bed, and that convinced me. Was a pretty fair shake, and we haven't had one in a couple of years now; usually we get 2-3 a year. Not impossible we might have aftershocks, or even that this was a precursor to a larger one. Stay tuned.

The location of this one is also a little disturbing, from a geological standpoint. It would be in an active subduction area, the kind of place that can really produce big papas.

caw

Actually, it's coastal southern California sneaking up north. Literally. The Pacific Plate is busy sliding north along the San Andreas fault zone, but once it gets all the way up here, it slams against part of the North American Plate, and gets sucked under it. That subduction zone is exactly where this morning's rattle occurred.

It's the damn Angelenos.

caw

billythrilly7th said:

Please tell me the future first woman and next Republican President of the United States, Governor Palin is okay.

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She's not okay. But she is undamaged.

caw

The thing really entertained my cats. There was no damage reported, in any case. The worrisome thing is this: The last time we had one of this magnitude, several years ago, it was a bit farther away, in the other direction, up north about 200 miles. That occurred on another major subduction fault zone, the one that's thrusting under Mt. Denali. It turned out to be a precursor to a much larger quake three weeks later that registered 7.9 Richter, and was the strongest quake anywhere in the world that year. Fortunately, the area is so sparsely populated that there were no injuries and minimal damage, mainly cracking some road surfaces.

But a 7.9 quake located where this one was this morning would be bad. Likely tsunami producing for the coastal towns of Homer, Seward, Seldovia and Kodiak, and it would definitely cause damage in Anchorage. Ain't been no really big one here since the giant 1964 event, which was a 9.2 Richter; but between 1900 and 1964, southern Alaska got eleven 8.0+ Richter events, averaging one every eight years or so. Now, it's a big area, but still, something like that would definitely charge up the old adrenalin.

caw

billythrilly7th said:

You're so jealous of her beauty.

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Well, yeah, there is that. Fortunately I can cover most of mine with facial hair.

caw