Earthquakes
By Oranges987
@Oranges987 (11)
United States
August 23, 2011 2:32pm CST
There was an earthquake today in Virginia that caused me to wonder why places so far away from the edge of tectonic plates get earthquakes. I know that the place the earthquake happened was a seismic zone and that there was an earthquake in that area over a hundred years ago. What I don't know is why earthquakes happen there when its practically in the center of a tectonic plate. Does anybody have an explanation?
1 response
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
23 Aug 11
There are actually a couple fault lines that run up through the east coast, and this quake was right on the most active fault. It isn't uncommon to have earthquakes on the east coast, but they are usually marginal. This one was just big enough to get noticed.
