How could a 5.9 quake be felt from the triangle NC to NYC?

[mmonk]

My son called me on the phone and said the house shook (we live in Raleigh) but I was in the bank and noticed nothing. Saw where it was felt from here to New York. Yet only 5.9.

[elleng]

1. 'ONLY' 5.9 covers a big territory, lots of NE Corridor people!

[seabeyond]

2. i was wondering the same. lol. earthquakes up the east coast? nt

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Only 5.9?

East Coaster?

[garybeck]

4. I felt it here in NORTHERN VERMONT. nt

[DainBramaged]

5. Ghostbusters?

[fishwax]

6. see here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1798379

[Renew Deal]

7. Al Queda

:tinfoilhat:

[mmonk]

15. Whew. I thought it was the large drill from Ocean's 13.

[MinneapolisMatt]

8. Per CNN

because the crust didn't rip (like it does in CA) it sent shock waves much, much further. Or at least that's what I heard.

[City Lights]

9. One explanation here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1798379

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. It is ancient bedrock, it rings like the proverbial bell

California is newer rock that does not resonate that well and is cracked.

[hedgehog]

13. We're all the way up near Lake Ontario, and the wave passed through.

WE didn't feel it, but a china closet bolted to a wall shook slightly. I figure the house flexed slightly and the closet amplified the effect.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Yep, you are in the same bedrock, and it is not cracked

that is why if the New Madrid fault ever goes the same way it did in the early 1800s the casualties will be in the millions in MULTIPLE cities.

[mmonk]

16. Makes sense.

[FBaggins]

11. Type of quake and depth

And not to offend the East Coast, but when you don't get them very often, you notice them more.

[PufPuf23]

12. My guess is because the quake was extremely shallow (

and the energy released propogated outward more.

Think shallow vs deep cone from epicenter and same energy release: a 6.0 quake at 1 km depth will propogate farther and faster horizontally than one where the epicenter is vertically deeper at 20 km, remember that the Richter scale is energy released.

[Raschel]

26. My guess too.

[ecstatic]

17. I'm visiting SC and our building was shaking too!

I had no idea the entire building was shaking, but I was laying on a bed which was shaking and I assumed the people next door were getting it on to the point that it was shaking my bed (silly I know). Then my SO came in and said everything was shaking and that we needed to evacuate (he thought it was Hurricane Irene coming).

[JoePhilly]

18. I was in RTP ... near 40 and Miami blvd ... felt nothing ...

My sister in Cinnamonson NJ felt it ... brother in law was in Trenton and felt it too.

She called me to see if we were still alive down here.

[mmonk]

19. I didn't feel it either while I was at RBC. But my son called me and asked if he lost

his mind because he thought the house shook (not knowing a quake had happened).

[jwirr]

20. It was felt from Toronto to NC.

[virgdem]

21. In Virginia Beach VA....

didn't feel a thing, but my hubby works in Norfolk and felt it while teaching a class. Said the building shook violently. We are about 160 miles to the southeast of Mineral, VA (the epicenter of the quake).

[Rex]

22. It was a special type of earthquake.

[tpsbmam]

23. Not just the triangle.....I felt it in the mountains in western NC....

Asheville area. It was very mild, but i definitely knew it was a tremor.

[HopeHoops]

24. Georgia to Canada. Answer: old rock, shallow depth, slipping plate.

1) The East Coast mountains are much older than those on the West Coast, which curiously means they are colder and cold rock carries the vibrations much better than warmer rock.

2) That was pretty fucking close to the surface. There wasn't much to buffer it.

3) The area it occurred in moves by 2 or 3 inches a year. About every 100 years or so it slips. It was the strongest in Virginia since WW-II and the strongest on the East Coast in over 100 years.

[Shagbark Hickory]

25. Simple. The people in the south that say they felt it are full of shit.

I saw on the local fartlanta news that some douchebag was awoken from his nap by a light rumbling. Um yeah. Maybe it was just gas, buddy. That's what I think.

[yellowcanine]

27. Different geology on the East Coast. Earthquakes travel further.

Because there are fewer faults and the underlying rock is older and colder, when there is a quake it will travel much further and be felt more. Less energy is absorbed by the rock. So a 5.8 earthquake is going to be felt more far from the epicenter than a 5.8 earthquake on the West Coast.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/24/lohman.quake.east.coast/