Tuckerfan, this appears to be fairly close to the region that caused the eruption of Krakatoa. Another volcano has been forming near where Krakatoa was before. There is a really interesting book that came out a couple of years back out the original volcano. It’s probably in paperback by now. Fascinating reading.
There was a slight earthquake in Dyersburg a couple of days ago. It was 4. something. That’s getting close to the New Madrid Fault that formed Reelfoot Lake and made the Mississippi flow backwards. Some seismologists think that may have been the strongest earthquake to have hit the lower 48 ever. (Around 1812)
Is it true that the East Coast of the United States has no alert system? What about the West Coast?
Well, in the wake of the Asian Tsunami, they’re working on getting a warning system for the East Coast, since there’s a cliff face in the Azores or someplace, that when it let’s go (which it apparently will) is going to cause a tsunami far worse than the one that wiped out so much of the Indian Ocean region. IIRC, the West Coast has a warning system, since there’s been several waves that have hit the Western US in the previous century (one that hit Alaska in the 50s/60s was particularly nasty).
A previous thread where detecting a tsunami on the East Coast is discussed.