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Earthquake Rattles New York State!
Students of earth science are taught that earthquakes occur primarily
along the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates. Surprisingly, several
of the most destructive earthquakes in the history of our country
have occurred not along the plate boundaries in California, Washington,
or Alaska, but deep within the North American Plate. Over the last
three centuries, major earthquakes have struck intraplate regions
such as New Madrid, Missouri, Charleston, South Carolina, and Cape
Ann, Massachusetts. On April 26, 2002, residents of the northern
New York State hamlet of Au Sable Forks had some direct experience
with intraplate seismic activity. The magnitude 5.3 quake, which
occurred just west of Lake Champlain and close to the Canadian border,
was felt across nine states and two Canadian provinces. The earthquake
produced widespread damage including landslides, broken glass, and
fallen chimneys in upstate New York, and was followed by several
dozen minor aftershocks that were recorded by portable seismographs
deployed in the region.
Photograph by S. Hellman, reproduced courtesy of ISTI.
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