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Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images
People stand in a square outside the courthouse after an earthquake was felt in New York Tuesday, causing buildings to be evacuated. The Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol and Union Station in the nation's capital were all evacuated after the 5.9-magnitude quake, which was shallow with its epicenter only 0.6 miles (one kilometer) underground.
A magnitude-5.8 earthquake in Virginia Tuesday afternoon was felt across the U.S. East Coast, shaking offices and nerves from Washington D.C. to New York City and as far south as Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There are even reports of shaking as far west as Columbus, Ohio, and out on Martha's Vineyard.
That's a whole lot of shaking for what amounts to a medium-sized quake. The reason for its reach, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, is geology of the East Coast.
"The reason an earthquake in the high 5s is felt so far away is that it occurred in an area … where the bedrock is solid, it's not really fractured or broken up by faults the way it would be, say, in California," Peter Powers, a geophysicist with the survey, told me today.
The seismic energy in areas with stable bedrock — "stable continental craton" in geophysics speak — can travel much farther than it can when broken up by young faults.
"Seismic energy attenuates very slowly on the East Coast," Powers said. "On the West Coast it attenuates much more rapidly because the bedrock is fractured and faulted and much more variable in its composition than on the East Coast."
Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones joins Brian Williams from the United States Geological Survey headquarters in Pasadena, Calif.
The survey notes that earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. are typically felt over a much broader region than those in the Western U.S., sometimes an area as much as ten time larger than similar magnitude earthquake on the West Coast.
"A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 300 miles from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 25 miles," the agency notes on its website.
Early reports indicated the depth of the earthquake is also quite shallow — just 3.7 miles down in the Earth's crust. Powers said this would likely be revised deeper as time goes by and the data is further analyzed, but depth here isn't much of a factor in the shaking.
The earthquake today on the East Coast, Powers said, was large enough to be felt over a large area no matter if its depth is ultimately determined to be 3 miles or 15 miles deep. "At that point, the depth really isn't much of a factor."
Depth can be a factor
In other regions, however, depth of an earthquake can make a difference.
Generally, the closer the epicenter of an earthquake is to the surface, the stronger the shaking on the surface and the more damage they cause, no matter what their size.
Conversely, when earthquakes rupture deeper in the crust — they can rupture up to 500 miles deep — more energy is lost as it races to the surface.
That's one reason why some relatively strong earthquakes, originating deep in the crust, cause little damage on the surface whereas some seemingly small earthquakes can cause massive damage.
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti in January 2010 was 8.1 miles deep. The relatively shallow depth combined with subpar construction in Haiti caused massive damage there.
A pair of minor earthquakes in Spain this May ruptured just over half a mile below the ground, causing several deaths and damaging buildings in a part of the world with a tame seismic history.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan on March 11 began at a depth of 19.9 miles. Though devastating, it could have been worse had it been even shallower — and had Japan's infrastructure not been among some of the most earthquake ready in the world.
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
NBC's Tom Costello reports from the earthquake epicenter in Mineral, Va., where the roof of the town hall collapsed in the quake.
An 5.8-magnitude earthquake in central Virginia was felt across much of the East Coast on Tuesday, causing light damage and forcing thousands of people to evacuate buildings in New York, Washington and other cities. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
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I'm still more afraid of my wife's cook'in
I am in Downtown Columbia, South Carolina and we felt it too and caused my body to sway in my office chair back and forth about 2" each way. So definitely worked it's way more South than the Chapel Hill, NC you reported at the time.
It was definately felt farther south than Chapel Hill, NC. I'm in Rock Hill SC, and got quite a jolt! My couch started vibrating and swaying, the glass doors on the china cabinet started rattling, and a tall potted plant sitting on an end table started swaying back and forth. Really unnerving! The shaking didn't last too long, but the potted plant kept swaying for more than a minute...really strange!
This is an example of what will continue to increase in frequency the closer we get to 2012. The weather world wide has increased in intensity over the last 2 years and will only get worst. If you don't prepare for the year 2012 you will perish.
Doesn't everyone perish when the end of the world comes in 2012? How do you prepare, and survive? Do you jump at the exact minute it happens or is there some diet or workout regimine that will prepare you? :)
Get psychiatric help now.
BB....please don't worry the end of the world is not coming in 2012. Yes there will me more natural disasters. If you stop listening to the news for a month and all negative things, you might feel better and realize you will be fine.
you tell'em omgna!
We won't even see 2012 bong, the Rapture is in October. Get it right.
And for God sake...don't forget the tin-foil. Those secret government microwaves will scramble your brains.
Don't listen to that rubbish! The world ended in 1,000 AD just as they said it would .... we just think we are all still alive! We are all just living in this big computer but are just batteries for a bunch of machines ... er ... no, wait .. that was just some movie? ... oh. Never mind.
Here's a suggestion for what to do when the end comes. Press the palms of your hands against your face, run counter-clockwise in a tight circle repeating over and over "oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God...Don't stop, keep doing it until you pass out. That way your neighbors will die laughing and you wont know what hit you.
Occasionally on this site, we note the fact that Mars might have once been more active, but is not geologically almost dead. The Moon, even more so.
Guess what? You live on a planet that is not geologically or seismically dead.
This stuff occasionally happens, with no regard to what's on the surface. Always has, always will (until natural heat sources ultimately run down, unless Earth is destroyed when the Sun becomes a red giant star, first).
Get over it. (and don't live on the Pacific Rim, where this is more common...that's about the only way to reduce your risk, short of leaving Earth)
You DO understand that the 2012 movie was fiction and NOT a documentary, right? If not, then please seek help, educate yourself, and in the meantime quit posting that nonsense and making a fool of yourself in public!
god forbid something REALLY significant happens in this country of mambi-pambies. The country will fall like a house of cards.
Significant things have happened in this country - tornadoes wipe out entire cities; and wildfires destroy thousands of acres and leave countless people homeless; lets not forget terrorist attacks that brought this nation together. We did not fall down like a house of cards. The east coast just isn't using to feeling the ground move under their feet the way the west coast is...
Thank you Lisa. The Beev is just feeling a little defeatist today.
Where do people like bongle go once they're wrong?
on to predict a new date.
They just re-compute the date of the end of the world and wait a little longer. Of course, since they've given away all of their wordly possessions, they will wait quietly in a tent somewhere.
Once 2012 passes ... and we are all still here ... a new date will magically appear from the 'prophets' of doom (remember now, I am the Voice of Doom .. not an ordinary prophet of doom .. big difference!) ... having made so much money off the last few .. especially 2000 when I confess, I did pretty darned good, myself! .... my money is on 2020 .... not too far away and it has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Other nominations for the next end of the world after 2012?
October 13, 2249. That is the day. If I am wrong you can dig me up and tell me so.
"If I am wrong you can dig me up and tell me so."
That's funny!
It will be January 2105. It will be an alien invasion starting in the southern hemisphere and moving north with the spring. Last human resistance will end about the middle of 2107. And nobody, absolutely nobody alive today will give a damn.
Felt it in Springfield, Massachusetts! Chairs shook, floors swayed. Amazing!
Felt our whole office building sway and we're in Southfield MI. Just outside Detroit.
I am in Indianapolis, IN and we felt it as well, so it definitely reached further west than Columbus, OH! My coworkers and I felt the building sway ever so slightly - pretty wild!
This is crazy! I live in New York, and this was my first earthquake! Watch out for the aftershocks over the next few days!
We felt the quake by the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire.
We felt it in the Portland, Maine area, too.
Live in far Western Maryland. Felt the quake here and minor damage was reported
I thought the 2012 election returns had come in early and the Liberals were running for the Hills
Really! If they're running it is because tea baggers armed with our yahoo constitution and the belief that it is our God given right to own guns are chasing them. I'm so grateful for dual citizenship- at least I will have a place to go.
You should go back to where ever it is you came from.... would be best for the US to be without an idiot such as you.
wish i had dual citizenship. lucky >.>
I assumed everyone would perish in 2012. Any instructions on how to survive the destruction of our planet would be appreciated.
The only certain way to survive planetary destruction is simple.
1. Board rocket
2. Leave.
I mean it. If you're sure, then that's your only logical option.
Assuming the whole 2012 thing was real, of course...
Here in the Atlantic City area, I knew what was happening as I've been in these situations before in San Francisco and in the Philippines. Others in my office, however, were in pure panic mode as the building shook, the window panes bowed in and out and staplers, pens and pencils rolled off of desks. It's just not something that one would expect to happen in these parts, but the quake itself was relatively minor and certainly harmless. Thank God!
I live outside of Chelsea Michigan, a suburb of Ann Arbor. At about 1:54 this afternoon I felt my computer chair moving and after a quick check realized there was NO way I was doing it. Then I noticed that the fluid in my Diet Pepsi bottle was moving slightly. I yelled for my family and announced we were having an earthquake. And I said what we were feeling was in the area of a 3.0 or 2.8 from past experience in Southern California. They made fun of me a bit.......now I can gloat!
I am very glad there were no ijuries to speak of nor severe damage. Earthquakes are terribly frightening because there is NO control. By the time one feels it the event is essentially over and all we on the surface can do is Hang On!
I'm in Richmond, it's fine here--shook up literally, but we're fine!
I was sitting here in Upstate NY when suddenly my office chair felt a little more like a boat than a chair. When I heard the epicenter was so close to Richmond, where our data center is located, I was quite surprised I was still able to work. Way to hang tough, Richmond!
Good news that all is well!
Felt in Winston-Salem, NC. Bed started shaking and things on the dresser started moving. Weird stuff!
One of the National Cathedral spires damaged in the quake is seen at left.
I guess even God is not immune to the awesome power that is Mother Nature.
It's simple...vote Democrat! If the tea-baggers win in 2012, it's all over.
Come on this was a minor event and you media people are making like the world almost end give me a break. is there no other news all u people just seem to like to hear yourselves talk. enough with the oh i felt shaking interviews and stuff moved
and your the guy that likes to come on and complain about, hey we all have a role in this!
It actually occurred on a previously unknown faultline. rumor has it that it will now be known as "Obama's Fault".
Felt in Wilmington NC, too, near NC/SC border on coast. Knew immediately it was a quake. Old fault line runs along southeastern coast. Charleston had a big quake in 19th century, with buildings falling and killing folks.
Oakton, Virginia: Our house shook enough to knock the upper part of our chimney off. Our back deck is full of bricks. Luckily my hubby wasn't grilling otherwise he could have been hurt pretty badly.
Felt it in Dubuque, Iowa.
nice web design, your adds obstruct the entire article .....
The plural of ad is ads, not adds. The ads are the money making part of the web site. This is why they are positioned so prominently.