Last night about 6:00 there was a small Earthquake in Oxford Nebraska which is about 20 miles west southwest of where I live (Holdrege) it measured 2.5 on the richter scale. We don't have Earthquakes in Nebraska that much,we have to put up with tornado's and other stuff so its kind of strange to here about that happening. We couldn't feel it from here, but if it was any bigger I bet we would have felt it.

Oh my! They are creeping Eastward!:eek:

I was gonna say, "Gee, we didn't feel that in Iowa," but if you didn't feel it, then why would I have? :crazy:

It should be possible to feel a 2.5, but only if you are within about 1 or 2 miles of the epicenter. It's also possible that the focus (where the fracture actually occurred) was very deep below the surface. Being 20 miles away, you were way too far to feel it (be glad).
An earthquake in Nebraska is very rare, though.

Originally posted by Fleet
It should be possible to feel a 2.5, but only if you are within about 1 or 2 miles of the epicenter. It's also possible that the focus (where the fracture actually occurred) was very deep below the surface. Being 20 miles away, you were way too far to feel it (be glad).
An earthquake in Nebraska is very rare, though.

They are very rare here in Nebraska, the last one was in November of last year in O'Neil Nebraska which is a long ways away from where I live, that one was a 4.3 on the richter scale. They interviewed some people from the town of Oxford and they just thought it was thunder, they didn't now what it was until this morning.

I'm not sure but I think the second biggest fault line in the United states is in Missouri, I think I heared that somewhere once.

Originally posted by Three'sCompanyrules

I'm not sure but I think the second biggest fault line in the United states is in Missouri, I think I heared that somewhere once.

Not the biggest. That would be the San Andres fault in California, I believe. The New Madrid Fault would cause some of the most devastation, however. An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Ricter Scale would be far more devastating in the midwest than in California. This is due to the different geology of the areas.

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/prepare/factsheets/NewMadrid/ The link I provided is an interesting webpage about the New Madrid fault and also has a map showing how much the damage area would be for a quake equal in magnitude to the 1994 Northridge quake at New Madrid in comparison to the Northrididge quake.

Yikes! How scary it could be to experience an earthquake. I am so glad I don't get those where I'm living at.

Originally posted by Husker Fanatic


Not the biggest. That would be the San Andres fault in California, I believe. The New Madrid Fault would cause some of the most devastation, however. An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Ricter Scale would be far more devastating in the midwest than in California. This is due to the different geology of the areas.

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/prepare/factsheets/NewMadrid/ The link I provided is an interesting webpage about the New Madrid fault and also has a map showing how much the damage area would be for a quake equal in magnitude to the 1994 Northridge quake at New Madrid in comparison to the Northrididge quake.

Yeah, the San Andreas is longer; it runs several hundred miles. The New Madrid fault zone is actually three seperate faults. The estimated magnitudes of the three quakes (Dec., 1811, Jan. and Feb., 1812) were 8.1, 7.8 and 8.0, respectively. Earthquakes in the eastern half of the U.S. are felt throughout a wider area because there are less faults. The many faults in California act as a shock absorber. For instance, the 6.7 Northridge quake ('94) was felt in Palmdale (about 45 miles away), but the shaking was much milder- it felt like a 4.0 or so quake out there.
The bad news about the New Madrid area: The faults out there are capable of very strong quakes.
The good news: A magnitude 8 quake occurs about once every 700-800 years. A magnitude 6 about every 400-500 years.

Earthquakes just happen to be among my favorite reading subjects. A frightening topic, but interesting. I liked the link you posted; I haven't seen this one before.