Why does south carolina have earthquakes

Most earthquake-related casualties result from collapsing walls, flying glass and falling objects. If in a moving vehicle : Stop as quickly as safety permits and stay in the vehicle. Avoid stopping near or under buildings, trees, overpasses and utility wires. Proceed cautiously once the earthquake has stopped. Avoid roads, bridges or ramps that might have been damaged by the earthquake. If trapped under debris : Do not light a match. Do not move about or kick up dust.

Cover your mouth with a handkerchief or clothing. Tap on a pipe or wall so rescuers can locate you. Use a whistle if one is available. Shout only as a last resort. Shouting can cause you to inhale dangerous amounts of dust. After an Earthquake.

Expect aftershocks. These secondary shockwaves are usually less violent than the main quake, but can be strong enough to do additional damage to weakened structures and can occur in the first hours, days, weeks or even months after the quake. Listen to a battery-operated radio or television. Listen for the latest emergency information. Use the telephone only for emergency calls. Open cabinets cautiously. Beware of objects that can fall off shelves. Stay away from damaged areas. Stay away unless your assistance has been specifically requested by police, fire or relief organizations.

Return home only when authorities say it is safe. Be aware of possible tsunamis if you live in coastal areas. These are also known as seismic sea waves mistakenly called "tidal waves". When local authorities issue a tsunami warning, assume that a series of dangerous waves is on the way.

Stay away from the beach. Help injured or trapped persons. Remember to help your neighbors who may require special assistance such as infants, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Give first aid where appropriate. Do not move seriously injured persons unless they are in immediate danger of further injury. Call for help. Clean up spilled medicines, bleaches, gasoline or other flammable liquids immediately.

Leave the area if you smell gas or fumes from other chemicals. Inspect the entire length of chimneys for damage. Unnoticed damage could lead to a fire. Inspect utilities. Researchers first learned about reservoir-induced seismicity in the s in Denver, Colorado. Operators at a chemical weapons facility called the Rocky Mountain Arsenal drilled a deep well and began injecting waste fluid into what turned out to be highly fractured rock, triggering more than earthquakes in five years, according to a article in the journal The Mountain Geologist.

Thus, scientists knew about the possibility of reservoirs triggering earthquakes by the time Monticello was constructed. Talwani and his team were already monitoring and studying small swarms at reservoirs such as Jocassee near the North Carolina-South Carolina border. Lake Monticello was constructed in the s as a water source for the nearby Virgil C.

Summer Nuclear Power plant. Because scientists already knew that reservoirs could produce earthquakes, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission required careful monitoring of seismicity in the area. Talwani's research group conducted most of this monitoring, which gave them a stunningly detailed view of tiny earthquakes that wouldn't normally be picked up by U. Geological Survey equipment. The lake has been the source of thousands of tiny quakes over the years, most far too subtle to be felt.

The initial swarm of earthquakes after the reservoir filled wasn't surprising. But the quakes in the s, 20 years after Lake Monticello was constructed, were a little more mysterious.

Thanks to their detailed seismic monitoring, Talwani and his colleagues were able to figure out what had happened.

Over time, they found, water from the lake had dissolved mineral "caps" that had been sealing off fractures in the rock. With these new fractures opened, water was able to move into them, again building up pressure and causing the rocks to slip. The Charleston earthquake was felt across two million square miles, including all of South Carolina, most of the United States east of the Mississippi River, and as far away as Canada, Cuba, and Bermuda. Of the eastern U.

The earthquake caused extensive damage to buildings not only in Charleston and Summerville, but also in Augusta and Savannah, Georgia. It reportedly chased rats out of sewers in New York City, rocked lighthouses along the New York seacoast, and felled chimneys in Kentucky and Ohio. The death toll eventually reached eighty-three in Charleston alone, with additional deaths attributed to the earthquake occurring elsewhere in South Carolina and in other states.

The Charleston-Summerville area continues to be by far the most seismically active area in the state. In the s governments and organizations increasingly worried about threats from future earthquakes. In concerned South Carolinians formed the S. In the twentieth century, some rivers and streams in South Carolina were dammed to create hydroelectric, flood control, and recreational facilities or, in the cases of the Monticello Reservoir and Lake Keowee, sources of water cooling for atomic energy plants.

Many of the dams were built on or near fault zones. To date, earthquakes have not broken or weakened the dams. In , however, officials with the federal government, noting significant earthquakes in the Columbia region in and , decided to make a concerted effort to protect area inhabitants against a major earthquake. Concerned about the capacity of the Lake Murray dam to withstand such an earthquake, they mandated the construction of a back-up dam to the existing earthen dam that was constructed in the late s.

An earthquake of magnitude 3. Dutton, Clarence E. The Charleston Earthquake of August 31,