Earthquake on US east coast

[Sir Edward]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0005ild.html

I hope everyone is safe. We don't usually get earthquakes like this on the east coast. It's rare to get something much higher than 2.5, which you'd be lucky to even notice.

But it does make me wonder. How common were earthquakes in medieval Europe? How would they have reacted to it?

[Sir Gerard de Rodes]

I hope everyone is safe.
G.

[Sir Rodney]

That is a very good question!  What a great time to lay siege; the walls were already weakened. 

[Sir Wolf]

doing fine, but there is a large fog coming out of the mts....OMG there huge bat like insects ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hehehe

[Frater de Beaumanoir]

Best wishes to those of you who were discomforted by the disturbance, and I hope all is well.

As for quakes in the Middle Ages, I know that the Holy Land experienced several during the time of the Crusades, damaging key fortifications.

[Sir Patrick]

Just another reason to walk around in full armour!

[Sir William]

Indeed...I thought it was a terrorist attack at first.  I'd read this book earlier this year, The Hammer of Eden by Ken Follett where these eco-terrorists stole a seismic vibrator, positioned it over a fault line and caused large tracts of land to shift and crumble, yada yada yada - its a crazy idea but it wouldn't be the first time someone tried something crazy.  Like flying planes into skyscrapers.

[Sir James A]

Sir William, you're not far off from my second thought - we're approaching the 10th year of 9/11 - and it almost seemed a "test run" of things to come, assuming that our "earthquake machine" in Alaska is truly capable of such feats and that the tech has been reproduced elsewhere.

My first thought was "Wait, what? Earthquake?". Apparently I was in the car driving to lunch. Didn't feel or see a thing. I had no idea until I got 2 text messages about it from my dad. He said it's the largest one since the late 1800s, for Virginia. As far as status here on top of the mountain, almost nothing as a visible indicator - only a couple lego-sized knights in my display cabinet were knocked over, which could have even been from the cats jumping on top of the cabinet. My brother in law's parents were not so lucky - they had windows break and some other damage (they are in PA).

Red Knight - indeed!

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, the layout of the underlying geology in the area transmitted the energy to the northeast much greater than it did in any other direction. They felt it all the way up into NY and CT. Over here in Charles Town, it was just a heavy vibration. To the south, they didn't feel it much beyond NC.

[Sir Ulrich]

I felt it, I was like WTF why is everything shaking. Then I got up and was like "time to leave" I and then it stopped... But it was strange...

[SirNathanQ]

I was in school. Didn't notice it. everyone around me started freaking out. I had quite a good laugh from that.   And then the anti MDRF coalition of Evil People decided to finish the job with Hurricane Irene when their dastardly earthquake didn't manage to finish the job!

[Thorsteinn]

In Reno we get hundreds of micro quakes a day. We worry when they stop, not when they start (Reno has 2 faultlines on either side of it).

[Sir Edward]

Here on the east coast, the geology is relatively stable. It's very old and cold dense rock. We rarely get noticeable earthquakes, but when they're any real size, they get carried far and wide. In California, a 5.8 isn't that unusual, but it would be fairly localized. Here, we felt it all up and down the east coast, from at least the Carolinas up into Canada. That's what, 1000 miles or more?

[Sir William]

At the least...the entire eastern seaboard felt it.

[Thorsteinn]

I guess living on the Ring of Fire makes you more aware of it. More expectant.

Just think of the fun if the Crater Lake Caldera, Long Valley Caldera, or Yellowstone go.

-Ivan