A weird day for earthquakes in the U.S., but that's, um, normal
Of course, only a few of those were detectable by people, and only 12 were above a 3.0 magnitude.
In other words, it was a typical seismologic day -- in terms of sheer numbers of tremors -- in the United States; what was slightly out of the ordinary was the magnitude and location of the earthquakes, said Rafael Abreu, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist, in an interview with The Times.
Virginia's earthquake was of rare strength for the area. Colorado's quake was one of nine earthquakes in that state on Tuesday, including the 5.3 jolt about 7 miles from Cokedale.
Not to be forgotten: Upstate New York was shaken a bit by a 2.2 quake early Tuesday near Altamont. Jones, Okla., got a 2.8 jolt. And Alaska -- well, Alaska gets a few earthquakes just about every day.
But not to worry, most of the earthquakes were unrelated -- not a part of some grander doomsday equation.
"The fact that they occurred together is purely a coincidence," Abreu said.
The fact that upstate New York's shake occurred only hours before Virginia's doesn't mean the events are connected.
"There is no geological relation," Abreu said.
As for Colorado, it's been having a rash of quakes over the past few days; on Monday, the state was hit with a 4.6 quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
But all in all, it still made for an unusual day at work for Abreu.
"It was a strange day," he said. "But Mother Nature teaches us something new every single day."
-- Stephen Ceasar
Photo: Matthew Stewardson cleans up at Main Street Supply Plumbing and Electrical in Mineral, Va., near the epicenter of the quake. Credit: AP Photo / The Free Lance-Star, Sabrina Schaeffer