Thursday, June 02, 2005
Makin' Like Jerry Lee Lewis
Man, we had a whole lotta shakin' goin' on around my part of West Tennessee today. Around 6:35am, there was an earthquake (4.0 on the Richter scale, epicenter Ridgely, TN). I was laying down reading when all of a sudden it sounded like a big truck was outside the house. The house shook for about 5 seconds and then there was this big BOOM that resounded over the countryside. Marvin was in his vehicle on his way to work when the earthquake hit and he didn't notice anything unusual.
Earthquakes are a totally new element for me. The first one I ever experienced was back in 1986 when I lived in Columbus, Ohio, which is surprisingly on the same fault line as we are here in Tennessee, the New Madrid fault (New Madrid, MO). Back between mid-December 1811 and mid-March 1812, there were a series of quakes that shook our area. The Richter scale had not been developed at that time, but it is felt that these quakes would have been some of the largest on record. They caused The Mississippi River to change its course and actually flow backwards for a while. Reelfoot Lake (Lake County, TN) is an eighteen thousand acre lake that was formed during these quakes when whole forests sank below the ground and water filled the holes to form lakes and swamps.
On May 1, we had an earthquake of 4.1 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter was Big Lake, AR. I was sitting at my computer when it happened, and I felt the same sensations and kept thinking that a big truck was driving through our road. I'm starting to look at earthquakes as God's way of saying "Hi, remember me?" He sure gave us a big shout out this morning!
Earthquakes are a totally new element for me. The first one I ever experienced was back in 1986 when I lived in Columbus, Ohio, which is surprisingly on the same fault line as we are here in Tennessee, the New Madrid fault (New Madrid, MO). Back between mid-December 1811 and mid-March 1812, there were a series of quakes that shook our area. The Richter scale had not been developed at that time, but it is felt that these quakes would have been some of the largest on record. They caused The Mississippi River to change its course and actually flow backwards for a while. Reelfoot Lake (Lake County, TN) is an eighteen thousand acre lake that was formed during these quakes when whole forests sank below the ground and water filled the holes to form lakes and swamps.
On May 1, we had an earthquake of 4.1 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter was Big Lake, AR. I was sitting at my computer when it happened, and I felt the same sensations and kept thinking that a big truck was driving through our road. I'm starting to look at earthquakes as God's way of saying "Hi, remember me?" He sure gave us a big shout out this morning!
