After the earthquake that hit Virginia last week, many couldn't help but wonder what the possiblity of a tremor in Auburn would be.
Luckily for the Auburn area, this scenario is unlikely, according to Lorraine Wolf, professor of geology. However, it is possible, she said.
"The Earth's crust here is riddled with old, ancient faults that formed when the continent was building,"Wolf said. "These faults aren't active like the San Andreas Fault or the faults in the Pacific Northwest, and it is no longer an active-plate boundary, but occasionally forces from plate boundaries from far away accumulate enough stress in the Earth's crust that fractures will happen on those old faults."
Taylor Machen, junior in geography, said he is surprised the threat level is not higher since Auburn is close to the Appalachian Mountains.
"I'm glad that the threat level is not as bad as I thought," Machen said. "If we had something like they had in Virginia this past week, or if we had earthquakes as much as California, I do not know how I would react."
The threat level is low enough that Bill James, Auburn's public safety director, said he does not feel an earthquake reaction plan is necessary.
However, James said the response to an earthquake would be similar to other natural disasters.
"Depending on what kind of damage there was, there could be a police response, fire response and a building inspection division response," James said. "The building inspection division would assess any damaged buildings. Fire would provide any type of rescue that might be needed. Police, depending on the amount of damage, may have to secure properties and traffic direction."
Wolf said the last significant earthquake in Alabama was in 2003 in Fort Payne. The earthquake registered a magnitude of 4.7.
"The one in Fort Payne was associated with an elongated trend of seismicity in the east Alabama or east Tennessee seismic zone," Wolf said. "Sometimes it is called the Southern Appalachia seismic zone. Northern Alabama is on the southern tip of that."
Wolf said the New Madrid Fault is the closest major seismic zone. This fault, near Memphis, Tenn., produces a major earthquake every 400-500 years that would be felt around much of the Southeast if it occurred again.
According to Wolf, if the New Madrid Fault produced an earthquake, Auburn would most likely feel it.
"That's a fundamental difference in the East Coast and the West Coast," Wolf said. "In the East Coast the waves from the earthquake travel very far.
"They are felt much further away than the same size earthquake in California. It has to do with the nature of the Earth's crust there.
"Over there, crust is more broken up and pieces of it have been slapped onto the side of the continent.
"Ours is more strong and old, and that allows for the waves to travel farther."
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