Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 111 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
General News    H2'ed 8/2/10

Magnitude 3.0 Earthquake hits Gulf of Mexico New Orleans Region by Geologist Chris Landau

Message Chris Landau
Become a Fan
  (55 fans)

Magnitude 3.0 Earthquake hits Gulf of Mexico New Orleans Region by Geologist Chris Landau

A magnitude 3.0 Earthquake has occurred yesterday, almost at midnight, 80 miles NW of New Orleans and 35 miles) NNE of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sunday, August 01, 2010 at 11:34:28 PM with an epicenter located at 30.873N, 90.874W. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 3.1 miles according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Infrequent earthquakes occur here. By the very nature of this being a shallow earthquake, it is probably related to oil drilling. Subsidence due to removal of oil and gas in the earth's crust is probably responsible for this event.

An alternate cause might be due to a fault that runs parallel to the famous New Madrid- St Lawrence River fault that triggered the largest historical earthquake to strike the continental United States. This happened in the winter of 1811 to 1812 along the New Madrid seismic zone, which stretches from just west of Memphis, Tenn., into southern Illinois.

There is a second large fault zone, which is traced out by the minor earthquakes occurring weekly as documented by the USGS. This fault zone lies parallel to and about 300 miles to the south east of The New Madrid Fault Zone.

The USGS presents an excellent summary of fault zones and earthquakes around the world. See their details below.

Earthquake Details

  • This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude

3.0

Date-Time

Location

30.873N, 90.874W

Depth

5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program

Region

LOUISIANA

Distances

55 km (35 miles) NNE of BATON ROUGE, Louisiana
55 km (35 miles) NW of Hammond, Louisiana
55 km (35 miles) SW of McComb, Mississippi
130 km (80 miles) NW of New Orleans, Louisiana

Location Uncertainty

horizontal +/- 19.6 km (12.2 miles); depth fixed by location program

Parameters

NST= 7, Nph= 7, Dmin=153.2 km, Rmss=0.4 sec, Gp=198,
M-type="Nuttli" surface wave magnitude (mbLg), Version=6

Source

  • USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID

us2010zlai

Earthquake Summary

Tectonic Summary. USGS History

Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).

The link below shows Historical Information.

Earthquake Information for Louisiana (Historical Information)

The link below shows a location map for the earthquake.
Historical Seismicity

The link below shows the Google location for the earthquake.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.8726+-90.8744(M3.0+-+LOUISIANA+-+2010+August+02++04%3A34%3A28+UTC)&ll=30.8726,-90.8744&spn=2,2&f=d&t=h&hl=e


Google Map

Do I think, this earthquake will affect the BP-Transocean-Halliburton-Anadarko-Mitsui Blowout Well? I do not. The distance of more than 120 miles from that location is too far away. I also do not think that the pressure building up in the formation in the capped well has caused this earthquake. But should earthquakes move into the Gulf itself to be close to the blowout well, then, I would have to agree that they are related. Do I think that this earthquake will cause damage to some local oil and gas wells? I am sure it will.

As I must present a well balanced article, I have presented the scientific view and now here is an alternate viewpoint to run with.

For the Conspiracy Theorists

Could someone have detonated a bomb at this depth of 3.1 miles in an oil well? The answer is yes. Do I think it happened? Who knows? For what purpose would they have done such a thing? Who knows?

I look forward to your comments, both for and against all viewpoints.

Chris Landau

August 2, 2010

Must Read 2   Well Said 1   Valuable 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Chris Landau Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

I was born in South Africa in 1958. I came to the USA with my wife and three daughters in 2003. We became US citizens in 2009 and 2010. My wife Susan is a Special Education English Teacher. She has a bachelor's degree in Micro anatomy and (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

B.P, Halliburton and Transocean have unleashed Armageddon and now there is no stopping it.

Magnitude 3.0 Earthquake hits Gulf of Mexico New Orleans Region by Geologist Chris Landau

Can it rain oily compounds in the Gulf of Mexico? Yes! Chris Landau geologist & meteorologist

BP Gulf oil blowout still gushes Benzene, Hydrogen Sulfide, Methyl Chloride, Sulfur Dioxide. Chris Landau geologist/met

B.P. SHOW US THE MUDLOGS! By geologist, Chris Landau

BP-Halliburton-Transocean-Well is loosing 60% or 9824psi of oil and gas pressure to the strata.Chris Landau(geologist)

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend