It might not seem like an obvious location , but New York may be overdue an earthquake that could make material price .
The claim was made by journalist Kathryn Miles in her new account book , Quakeland : On the Road to America ’s Next Devastating Earthquake . The realm plainly experience a major quake every hundred long time , the last being back in 1884 .
New York has a number of geologic fault running north-east and northwestern United States . They produce what Miles calls a “ unannealed grid ” under Manhattan , which is a spot of a check time bomb calorimeter for an quake . The rock under New York is very grueling , so an seism could cause substantially more damage than one on the West Coast .
Geophysicist Charles Merguerian analyze the faults , by walk surface error lines , and going underground . He says he ’s walked the integral island of Manhattan , let in most of its tunnels , help to reveal the identification number of faults lie underground .
“ To do his work , then , he ’s principally looking for what geologist call “ branch ” – places where the types of rock music do n’t line up with one another , ” Miles drop a line in anexcerptrun by The Daily Beast . “ That form of abnormality shows signs of movement over time – cleared evidence of a fault . ”
It ’s think the faults formed million of years ago when the East Coast played master of ceremonies to a red subduction zone ( where tectonic plates collide ) . The Mid - Atlantic has “ folded into itself again and again ” , leaving not only mountains but unanimous and brittle rock ‘n’ roll that could cause an earthquake .
New York has not been devoid of earthquake . One relatively small one , 2.6 in order of magnitude ( M ) , struck back in October , 2001 . A 5.0 M temblor is think to hit every hundred yr , so the metropolis is long delinquent . There ’s also another fault , called Ramapo , tightlipped to the urban center that could cause an seism up to 7.0M.
The East Coast of the US is certainly not a region that gets remark much when talking about quake . The West Coast , and the threat of a “ really big one ” , garner a lot more attention . But peradventure we should really be taking a look at what ’s happening under New York .
