# What causes earthquakes in New York? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2001, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986 "2001-08-19T05:24:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/1 "2001-08-19T05:24:18Z")
There is a thread in IMHO about surviving natural disasters and it reminded me of the earthquake felt in The Bronx in the early '80’s. I surfed around the 'net and found a few sites. Here’s the latest NYC earthquake: [http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa011801b.htm](http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa011801b.htm) This site [http://mceer.buffalo.edu/infoService/faqs/eqlist.asp](http://mceer.buffalo.edu/infoService/faqs/eqlist.asp) says no one really know why there should be earthquakes in NY. Would anyone here like to hazard a guess? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/2 "2001-08-19T05:34:57Z")
Whoops! That’s not the site that says they can’t say for certain why NY has earthquakes, it’s this one: [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/geofaq.html](http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/geofaq.html) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/3 "2001-08-19T05:47:02Z")
I don’t know either, but it’s not my fault! ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/4 "2001-08-19T05:56:44Z")
I suggest buy some “no fault” insurance.😃 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/5 "2001-08-19T07:34:11Z")
If you folks and us out here have enough of them, we can snuggle up and we’ll have no more ‘flyover’ states. 😉 New York (Manhattan) is just a big ol’ granite rock, right? No reason it can’t move, given enough of a push. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Tabithina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@Tabithina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabithina)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/6 "2001-08-19T14:51:17Z")
**Biggirl** , I am also interested in this, and I had a little time to poke around on search engines this morning. This article is helpful: [Why Does the Earth Quake in New England?](http://www2.bc.edu/~kafka/Why_Quakes/why_quakes.html) I also found a [Neal Real Time Earthquake List](http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/). There’s been no recent activity in your area as of this post— I’m just putting up this link because I think it’s interesting. Enjoy, Kris ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/7 "2001-08-19T15:24:24Z")
I happened to be at the Science Museum and Observatory at Dolbeau, Quebec, soon after a large (Mag. 6.0) earthquake had hit just north from there (early 90’s). The folks there said that the causes of these ‘no fault’ earthquakes were still not understood. –sublight. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/8 "2001-08-19T15:40:47Z")
Youse gots a problem wit’ da oith shakin’ in Noo Yawk, pal? Maybe me an’ my boys’ll go t’ your place 'n shake IT up. ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/9 "2001-08-19T16:00:49Z")
I thought it was all that thumpin’ bass… Aside from that, my dad enjoys telling me about how there’s a fault line running, oh, under my building (at least that’s what he’d like me to believe). Unfortunately, he may be right! From [this link](http://pbisotopes.ess.sunysb.edu/geo201/NYearthquake.htm): > [@](#): > > Manhattan’s other fault lines can be found running across Dyckman Street in northern Manhattan on an east-west line from Broadway in the 200s through Harlem to East 125th Street; on an east-west line from the Intrepid Museum down to Alphabet City; and on two much older north-south lines, one down the Hudson from 42nd Street into the harbor and the other along Broadway from the upper Thirties through Chambers Street and then into Battery Park. The article isn’t recent but it’s the first one I found that referred to what I like to think of as My Dad’s Fault. Isn’t everything? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/10 "2001-08-19T17:52:41Z")
Thanks guys. I’m still reading the links provided by **Tabithina** and **Rosebud**. Now I’m puzzling over these “ancient faults”. A fault in the middle of a plate is a fault nontheless, no? These faults were formed because Africa bumped into North America causing stress in the middle of the plate and then it ripped up a nice, big Atlantic Ocean sized hole when it moved away. (This is my layman’s understanding, please correct me if I’m wrong.) These cracks in the earth were formed by a completely different phenomenon than the plate faults-- but a crack in Earth’s crust is still a crack. Another question, if I may. Why do the Northeastern quakes cause so little damage to property and to the earth itself? I would think our nice solid little hunk of bedrock may have something to do with this, but a mag 7 should do something besides rattle a few dishes around. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/11 "2001-08-19T17:53:52Z")
I hate when that happens. I thought I hit preview. It must have been the earth shaking that moved my mouse over submit instead. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/12 "2001-08-19T18:25:42Z")
Eh, biggurl, fuhgeddabatit. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/13 "2001-08-19T18:51:40Z")
Actually, the Quebec earthquake in '92 or '93 did make a lot of visible changes in the landscape. No building were damaged, however, simply because the area was so sparsely populated that there weren’t any buildings to damage. I think there may have been an injury or two due to falling trees, though. –sublight. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/14 "2001-08-19T19:09:50Z")
[conspiracy whisper] The word was passed around quietly, that every inhabitant of **New Jersey** would come out of their homes at 7:30 on that very morning, and, on the count of _three_, they all jumped up and down for two minutes. You read about the rest of the story [/conspiracy whisper] ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/15 "2001-08-19T21:23:36Z")
While it’s true that the most active earthquake zones are associated with the margins of tectonic plates, an earthquake can occur anytime portions of the earth move relative to each other and produce a shock wave. And there are lots of faults and fault zones whose movements are not directly related to tectonic plate movements. Here’s an article, [Surprise earthquake faults found in New York](http://explorezone.com/archives/00_03/22_ny_faults.htm), that discusses the subject. That article stresses the incorporation of Landsat data, which is useful, but the interpretation of such relies on surface expression of faulting. A very effective method of detecting and mapping subsurface faults (faults not seen at all on the surface) is through the use of reflection seismic data. Not much of that has been recorded in New York, although there is some current activity along a specific trend. That data is being recorded at the behest of energy companies and is expensive. Areas without percieved hydrocarbon potential are unlikely to be surveyed. Intraplate earthquakes _can_ be related to tectonic stress exerted on the plate and can occur when the stresses release along a zone of weakness; a fault zone that didn’t exist prior to the event can be the result. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-earthquakes-in-new-york/76986/16 "2001-08-20T04:56:40Z")
I should add that the “no fault” earthquake scenario is addressed by the no-previously-observable-fault mechanism reported above.