Earthquake? New Jersey shrugs: A surprising fault line — and reaction
⭕ The epicenter of the April 5 earthquake was Tewksbury in Hunterdon County
⭕ Researchers found more damage farther away from the epicenter
⭕ There have been 204 aftershocks so far
April’s New Jersey earthquake, the state’s strongest since 1884, may have been caused by a newly discovered fault that gave it unusual qualities, according to a study.
Researchers from the Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who went to the quake's epicenter in Tewksbury and the surrounding area expected to find more damage. Beyond serious damage to the shell of a grist mill in Readington that dates back to 1764, they didn't find it.
“We expected some property damage―chimneys knocked down, walls cracked or plaster fallen, but there were no obvious signs,” study coauthor Won-Young Kim said in a statement. “We talked to police officers, but they were not very excited about it. Like nothing happened. It was a surprising response for a magnitude 4.8 earthquake.”
The study found more damage farther away 20 miles away in Newark where three row houses were partially knocked over. Two buildings in the Bronx were ordered to install protective sidewalk shields when cracks appeared in its facade. Cracks were found in a Brooklyn public school gym.
Gas and water mains developed leaks in the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island. Reports came from New Hampshire of shaking compared to a big truck passing by.
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New fault sent energy away from the epicenter
Their analysis showed the quake took place on a previously unmapped fault that runs south to north. It is not vertical but rather dips eastward into the Earth at a 45-degree angle. Instead of sending the earthquake's wave of straight up to the surface area at the epicenter, it went down along the dip until it hit the boundary between the Earth’s crust and the mantle called the Moho.
The energy then bounced back to New York City and New England.
"The long-distance echoes were likely strengthened by the fact that most rocks underlying this region are hard and dense, and conduct energy efficiently, like the ringing of a bell," according to the report.
There have been 204 aftershocks of a magnitude 0.5 and stronger since April. The latest was Oct. 23 SSE of Long Valley. Aftershocks could last for years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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