Maine Earthquake Swarm Caused By Ice Age (SEISMOGRAPHS)

It's hard to imagine that we're still feeling the effects of the last ice age.

A rash of close to 30 small earthquakes on the eastern coast of Maine puzzled scientists during the last day of April and the first few days of May. The explanation, as it turns out, is an after-effect of the last ice age.

"These occur in response to the movement of large, rock plates that make up the earth’s crust, even though Maine is not near a plate boundary, where most of the large events occur, such as California and Japan," Dr. Robert Marvinney said in a press release. "The crust in Maine is still adjusting to the loss of thick ice at the end of the last ice age, and this may be a cause for some earthquakes."

The "swarm" of earthquakes is the result of of the movement of the Laurentide ice sheet 25,000 years ago, according to Wired. The ice, which was 1 to 2 miles thick in some places, apparently pushed the crust down as far as 500 feet.

The result has been a trampoline effect that has occurred over thousands of years. From time to time the region experiences a rash of seismic activity.

"This swarm may continue for several days, but there is no need for alarm," Marvinney said. "This type of swarm has occurred before in Maine. While local residents may feel these earthquakes, because they occur only a few miles below the surface, they are well below the magnitude 5 threshold at which damage might occur."

While no damage may occur, residents still occasionally feel the activity.

May 1 Seismograph (During Activity):

May 8 Seismograph (After Activity):

Comments

[USCOASTGUARDVET]

04:15 AM on 05/13/2011

I think I'll have a Lobster, shaken, not steamed.

[edulist]

05:39 PM on 05/12/2011

trampoline effect??? Its called isostatic rebound!

[Baculus]

02:42 AM on 05/13/2011

Heh. Yeah, I was going to post that earlier. Geology is a useful science!

[edulist]

04:48 PM on 05/13/2011

10-4 baculus. Not too many folk on the huff agree with me. Thanks for noticing!

[golions]

02:56 PM on 05/12/2011

The human dynamic is fascinating at this article's comments section: a lot of posters try to shoehorn a nonpolitical article into their favorite ideology.

FROM THE LEFT: 'The earthquakes were caused by fracking!'
Sorry, no. Maine's heavy industries are shipbuilding and paper mills. The fracking is in other places.

FROM THE RIGHT: 'Climate change is nonsense!'
The climate change debate is irrelevant to this article. Dr. Marvinney is saying that Maine's recent earthquakes are a very late aftereffect of the last ice age. He is talking about a warming that happened 25,000 years ago, not whether more warming is happening today.

FROM THE APOCALYPTIC: "The end is near!"
These earthquakes in Maine aren't disasters. Most people can't even feel them.

FROM THE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS: "The scientists are hiding something!"
The scientists aren't hiding anything; take a course in geology if you're curious.

[baxtron]

12:14 PM on 05/12/2011

Eathquakes are just a theory.

[JaxReader]

11:39 AM on 05/12/2011

A lot of ignorance from both sides on this posts. People on left coming up with some pretty ridiculous theories. People on the right, attempting to 'disprove' the science of global warming with their ridiculous observations.

The lesson here is were F'd. Hopefully the next civilizations learns from our idiotic tendencies.

[Cayce58]

11:04 AM on 05/12/2011

Using the Bible to predict the end is to misread the Bible and deny an active God. At what time in the Bible did it say, I'm gonna make a vague prediction to make fools of all you Christians for 2000 years. Come on people, that isn't the way it was done. A prophet stuck his finger in a rulers face and said change or else and the "or else" happened in a lifetime. You want prophesy. 2012 to 2015. In that time frame the earths magnetism reverses and 60% of the people on earth die. A new age begins. Mary Summer Rain. And she claims she was sent here to tell us. Now that's more like God's habits, not a 2000 year time frame.

[Cayce58]

10:52 AM on 05/12/2011

Stelth----You don't need a thermometer to know the earths temperature. The proportion of oxygen isotopes 16 and 18 in the rocks tells you how hot it was at the time. 9 of the 10 warmest years in history occured since 2000. As predicted by climate scientists in the 80's, hurricanes, tornadoes and extreme weather events are more frequent. Greenland and the arctic are melting faster than predicted according to the US weather service. Try getting your science from scientists. Hannity and Beck are getting paid to lie. If they tell the truth its the unemployment line for them.

[Pierre99]

10:47 AM on 05/12/2011

Probably those two RINOS, Susan Collins and Olympio Snowe on the move again.

[meimer1112]

10:18 AM on 05/12/2011

Just send an email to barack huessein. He'll organize a team to send there and determine what can be done to stop those silly earthquakes!

[JaxReader]

11:33 AM on 05/12/2011

Worked out pretty well in Pakistan on what to do with Osama?! BOOOOM Headshot!

[downyours]

09:39 AM on 05/12/2011

It is well known that the farts of the millions of dinosaurs caused a methane buildup which led to the earth warming, and the ice age ending. Also, all that methane choked them and caused their great dieoff. When the ice melted the earth rose again, and is still rising. When the earth rises. the oceans retreat, so there will be no future coastal flooding. These facts can't be disputed.

[GM1966]

01:54 PM on 05/12/2011

That's funny. Good one!!!

[ronaldrealist66]

09:34 AM on 05/12/2011

Help, Help, Help! I woke up this morning, read these comments and realized that I'm living on the planet of apes. So many theories and few facts.

[sealtheborder1]

09:09 AM on 05/12/2011

To all the WARMERS on this post! Its only a matter of time before the next ice age........for the past 20000 years the earth has been in a warming trend, since the last ice age. It has allowed for humans to flourish and there is NO man made global warming over the past 100-200 years........keep in mind that 0.0001th of the earths history represents 45000 years! So even a 1000 year snapshot means NOTHING in earths history...its simply not enoungh time to make true scientific observations. Besides the earth was MUCH WARMER during the jurassic period, where CO2 levels were nearly double what they are today...and life on land and the ocean flourished! I guess the WARMERS should really complain to the volcanos.....instead of whinning about raising energy taxes......if they really wanted to make a difference.......LOL!

[panjo]

10:16 AM on 05/12/2011

I heard the bell! Time for you to go under the rock again!!

[clintwoodbar770]

04:20 PM on 05/12/2011

THANK YOU.....FINALLY SOMEONE WITH A BRAIN POSTING ON THIS LUNATIC LIB SITE...

[spr686]

08:44 AM on 05/12/2011

Why don't they tell everyone the truth? Maine has become Spring Water provider to the World and Maine is slowly being drained faster than it can replenish itself. The rocks are shifting because the Water table is getting lower. It has nothing to do with the Ice Age.

[sealtheborder1]

09:01 AM on 05/12/2011

And your a scientist who has proof of your outlandish theory...........

[tjdwill01]

10:43 AM on 05/12/2011

No science, just an other liberal attempt to create a crisis. A good crisis is worth billions to the lunatic left.

[negogato]

08:37 AM on 05/12/2011

So many experts. So many experts.

[Liz Pierce]

08:09 AM on 05/12/2011

earthquakes? what earthquakes? they had to have been so small, we didn't feel them.