vtunderground
Enlightened
I help maintain a network of stream gages and groundwater wells for the Commonwealth of VA and the USGS... While looking through our data today, I came across this:
It's from a groundwater well in Christiansburg, VA. As you can see, there's a pretty substantial jump in the ground water level that seems to coincide with the magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Sumatra. There is also a smaller blip on the 23rd that seems to coincide with the magnitude 8.1 earthquake reported near Australia. We've detected local earthquakes before, but nothing this far away. A few of our other groundwater wells also had blips or jumps at the same time as the Sumatra quake, but only in 10ths of a foot, not several feet like this!
Are there any geologists here? I'm wondering how an earthquake on the other side of the world had such an effect on groundwater levels here. Also, would the seismic waves travel around the Earth, or through it?
It's from a groundwater well in Christiansburg, VA. As you can see, there's a pretty substantial jump in the ground water level that seems to coincide with the magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Sumatra. There is also a smaller blip on the 23rd that seems to coincide with the magnitude 8.1 earthquake reported near Australia. We've detected local earthquakes before, but nothing this far away. A few of our other groundwater wells also had blips or jumps at the same time as the Sumatra quake, but only in 10ths of a foot, not several feet like this!
Are there any geologists here? I'm wondering how an earthquake on the other side of the world had such an effect on groundwater levels here. Also, would the seismic waves travel around the Earth, or through it?