I was looking around last night to see what I could find about my earlier theory this had something to do with fracking and i found this. I had a small panic attack after I read it, imagining the earth's crust crust to be fractured and crumbling . Here, you panic now. Or tell me he's an alarmist. He lives in New Zealand now, where they have just started fracking.

National Zoo Animals React to the Earthquake

The vibrations from yesterday’s 5.8 earthquake were keenly felt at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park; all animals, staff and visitors were safe and no injuries were reported. Zoo buildings were closed to the public and checked by safety personnel for structural damage. Zoo gates were closed to incoming visitors but exits were open for guests to leave at their leisure. The Zoo reopened this morning on time.

Animal care staff recognized changes in animal behavior.

Great Apes

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal deep injection well was constructed in 1961, and was drilled to a depth of 12,045 feet. The well was cased and sealed to a depth of 11,975 feet, with the remaining 70 feet left as an open hole for the injection of Basin F liquids. For testing purposes, the well was injected with approximately 568,000 gallons of city water prior to injecting any waste. However, when the Basin F liquids were actually introduced, the process required more time than anticipated to complete because of the impermeability of the rock. The end result was approximately 165 million gallons of Basin F liquid waste being injected into the well during the period from 1962 through 1966. [...]

The injected fluids had very little potential for reaching the surface or useable groundwater supply since the injection point had 11,900 feet of rock above it and was sealed at the opening. The Army discontinued use of the well in Feb. 1966 because of the possibility that the fluid injection was triggering earthquakes in the area. The well remained unused for nearly 20 years.

I'd be interested to hear what a certain member here, who has a degree in petroleum engineering, has to say about this fracking theory. As disturbing and problematic as fracking is, I dunno. The seismologists I saw on tee vee yesterday did not seem very surprised by this quake. But I think it's a good discussion.

Srsly? She named her baby "Kibibi"??

A little bit of research (more by NPR than me shows that there are absolutely no hydrofracking wells in Virginia. Between that and the absence of the kind of small precursor quakes that have been associated with every other known or suspected case where fluid injection has contributed to quakes, I think it's reasonable to say that hydrofracking almost certainly had nothing to do with yesterday's quake. (Whether or not hydrofracking can cause quakes at all is a separate question, and one that yesterday's quake can't really help answer one way or another.)

While yesterday's event was a rare one in human timeframes, it's not an uncommon event in geological terms. There have been other quakes on the Atlantic Coastal Plain in the past. At least one, in South Carolina in 1886, was larger and more damaging. Seismologists aren't getting freaked out over this quake because there's almost certainly nothing to get freaked out about.

Another blogger believes the quake might have been caused by hydrofracking.

excerpt:




more here:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/8/24/121516/304

I had never heard of a connection between hydrofracking and earthquakes before.

Tell that to the folks whose pink flamingos were tipped over. And the lawn furniture was just everywhere.

I suppose it's fun for those not involved to make fun of those who experienced a 5.9 (or 6.0 depending on which reports are to be believed) quake, and it was basically the first quake of any import they'd seen.

I doubt, for example, a friend of mine there whose damage to his home has been estimated at 250k (and that's without the structural engineer's report, which has not been submitted yet) thinks it's too funny.

Luckily no one was home nor injured.

The neighborhood/area in which he lives was hard-hit.

Why those sorts of things have not been reported, I don't know, but perhaps they will be as the situation is further assessed.

damage to his home has been estimated at 250k

That's a story for the network news! He can't be the only one, I wonder why they're not report these stories.