Word: faults
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...disaster, though, that shrouded the series. Both the A's and the Giants donated part of the take to earthquake relief, but the charity seemed inadequate. To many the very phrase Play ball! sounded irresponsible. And how do you celebrate in a Bay Area sapped by mourning? Through no fault of the winners, their victory was tainted. The A's owed their fans one season, beginning to end, of efficient ecstasy. That was the vow, and in 1990 they are a long way toward achieving...
...sleepy cotton fields around New Madrid, Mo. (pop. 3,400), convey no sense of seismic menace. Yet scientists say the area is potentially one of the most dangerous earthquake zones in the world. Early in the past century an unseen fault, obscured by tons of sediment, unleashed a fearsome trio of tremors -- each as powerful, some say, as the earthquake that virtually destroyed San Francisco in 1906. The eyewitness accounts read like the tall tales of Baron Munchhausen. The ground rippled with waves as though it were an ocean. The Mississippi River raged with waterfalls and rapids. Fountains of sand...
Today the fault at New Madrid remains active, regularly generating small, unnoticeable earthquakes and, from time to time, palpable jolts. Such quakes usually do not stir more than passing interest. But last week residents of southeastern Missouri snapped to attention when a moderate earthquake, rated 4.6 on the Richter scale, rattled windows, spilled coffee and broke ceramic figurines. Reason: the earthquake followed a much publicized prediction that the fault is likely to produce a major shock come Dec. 3, and many people feared last week's tremor could be a precursor. The prediction, which has made its way into several...
Earthquakes frequently occur along the boundaries of continental plates, huge sections of the earth's crust that "float" on a mass of superheated rock. California's San Andreas Fault, for instance, marks the dividing line between the North American and Pacific plates, which are slowly slipping past each other. But the New Madrid fault lies in the middle of the North American plate, seemingly far from harm's way. Why do earthquakes occur in such an out- of-the-way spot? By analyzing seismic data, scientists have concluded that the New Madrid fault is a failed rift, or break...
...area around the New Madrid fault is one of several known earthquake zones east of the Rockies. In 1755 Boston experienced a severe jolt, as did Charleston in 1886. Sooner or later a major quake is going to hit these areas again. And unlike the Western U.S., where hot rock close to the surface provides a squishy, shock-absorbing cushion, the middle of the continental plate is cold, hard and thick. Like their precursors in the past century, the next large quakes to strike in the Midwest or East are likely to resonate far and wide, like giant hammers hitting...