# Earthquake! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186 "2005-03-06T06:12:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/1 "2005-03-06T06:12:55Z")
In Montreal! Just now! I thought I imagined it but then my friend called and asked if I just felt anything. That is so freaky weird! I mean, this is NOT a major fault zone… Any other Montreal Dopers up at this hour? Did you feel that? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/2 "2005-03-06T06:23:28Z")
Huh. I didn’t feel a thing, though I saw it reported on CBC. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/3 "2005-03-06T06:25:49Z")
How big did they say it was? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/4 "2005-03-06T06:26:52Z")
…whoah, crazy!! That’s a hell of a coincidence – it turns out the article I was reading was about an earthquake on Wednesday. And now I see this thread. Teh freaky. Antigen, go here: [Natural Resources Canada](http://www.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/felt_e.php) and fill out their earthquake report form. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/5 "2005-03-06T06:30:03Z")
Hello from Earthquake Central! Checkout this [link](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/usveae.htm) for some info, but there’s nothing posted yet about the one you just experienced. Weird. The site reports pretty quickly. Minutes after the local quake last Sat. (Feb 26th) the site updated with info. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/6 "2005-03-06T06:34:46Z")
Thanks for the link, **matt\_mcl** - I’ve filled it in, and told my friend to do the same. I’m curious to see what it rates on the scale! ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/7 "2005-03-06T06:37:41Z")
Ahem. 1. Did the earth move for you too? 2. It’s illegal to yell earthquake in a crowded message board! 3. Shhhh. That’s just the Dero, and they do not like it when you fuck with them. You don’t want to antagonize the Nazi Hell Creatures, Magmamen, and the rest of the denizens of the Hollow Earth, do you? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/8 "2005-03-06T06:44:33Z")
And actually, though it’s not a fault zone, there is a fair amount of seismic activity in this area: [http://www.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/recent/index\_e.php](http://www.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/recent/index_e.php) . Nothing much that’s too severe. According to the Geological Survey database, the most severe earthquake in Quebec was a 7,0 magnitude (not sure what scale) in 1663; the largest in recent memory was a 6,5 in 1988 near Jonquière. (In 1995, shortly after we moved here, my dad was up late one night and heard a small earthquake rattle the piano keys.) ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/9 "2005-03-06T06:48:25Z")
I’m wondering if there is a fault line there, because in 2000 or 2001 I felt a 5.5’er in Burlington, Vermont. I think the epicenter was upstate New York, not far from Montreal, really. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/10 "2005-03-06T06:48:48Z")
There **is** a major fault line running up the St. Lawrence (in fact, that’s a part of why the valley runs the way it does). However, it’s not “stressed” the way the San Andreas is, and very rarely experiences any tremors. There was one with epicenter between Cornwall, Ont., and Massena, NY, about seven years ago, barely noticeable 100 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/11 "2005-03-06T14:11:55Z")
And the report this morning from the [USGS](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Quakes/usvhan.htm) is that last night’s seismic event was a 5.4 magnitude earthquake centered just off Riviere-du-Loup, in Quebec. On the news they said the quake was felt as far away as Boston. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/12 "2005-03-06T16:04:06Z")
Wow, 5.4, that’s pretty big for a non-quakey area. I hope no one was injured - you never know when you have buildings constructed without the possibility of earthquakes considered. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/13 "2005-03-06T16:19:52Z")
I found this [link](http://aslwww.cr.usgs.gov/Seismic_Data/telemetry_data/map_sta_eq.shtml) recently. It shows a map of the Earth with the last day-or-so’s earthquakes’ locations on it, and a little chart to their exact location and magnitude. Last 24 hours have been particularly busy for us north americans! ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/14 "2005-03-06T18:11:03Z")
Here’s the CBC News [CBC News](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/03/06/quebec-quake050306.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/15 "2005-03-06T19:12:00Z")
Wow… you Realdopers okay over there? _worried_ ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/16 "2005-03-06T21:45:38Z")
> [@](#): > > The paleo-rift faults consist of at least four fault lines running parallel in the St. Lawrence River and along its north shore through the Charlevoix crater. The break up of Pangea at about 150 million years ago saw the widespread formation of faults called rifts or grabens. Some widened to become new oceans (North and South Atlantic) but many others “failed” to develop and are preserved today as aulacogens deeply buried below younger strata. Large rivers follow these lines of structural weakness (such as the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers). Earthquakes are generated at the present times as the broken crust continues to move in response to movement of the continents (R. Eyles; ONTARIO ROCKS). Did you 'Réal Dopers know that you have an honest-to-God _astrobleme_ downstream from you? I found that out searching for info. on the St. Lawrence Valley Fault above; see [here](http://ottawa.rasc.ca/astronomy/earth_craters/charlevoix/). ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/17 "2005-03-06T22:05:35Z")
I remember 3 or 4 earthquakes when I was growing up in Saguenay (Jonquire-Chicoutimi-Arvida) and they were of pretty significant magnitude. The first time it happened we thought there was an explosion b/c there was this incredibly big noise. I think in all of the earthquakes I went through there was only 1 death-the place is on pretty solid bedrock. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake/293186/18 "2005-03-07T00:09:03Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Did you 'Réal Dopers know that you have an honest-to-God _astrobleme_ downstream from you? I found that out searching for info. on the St. Lawrence Valley Fault above; see [here](http://ottawa.rasc.ca/astronomy/earth_craters/charlevoix/). Yep. knew that. What I **didn’t** know, was the age of the thing. That old and still active :eek: