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North Escambia Area’s Significant Earthquake; Could It Happen Again?
October 23, 2009
Saturday is the 12th anniversary of a local earthquake that was one of the largest ever reported in Alabama or Northwest Florida, and experts say there is a chance another earthquake could happen again with little or no warning.
At 3:35 a.m. on October 24, 1997, a significant earthquake awoke a large number of people in Escambia County, Ala., and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. The quake, which measured 4.9 on the Richter scale, was centered near the Little Rock community in Escambia County, Ala., and was felt as far away as Eglin AFB, and Gulfport, Miss. It was the strongest earthquake in the southeast in 30 years. No significant damage was reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey classifies earthquake intensities. Here is how the October 24, 1997, earthquake measured up across the area, using intensity level descriptions from the Federal Emergency Management agency:
- (VII) Epicenter / Little Rock, Ala.
- People have difficulty standing. Drivers feel their cars shaking. Some furniture breaks. Loose bricks fall from buildings. Damage is slight to moderate in well-built buildings; considerable in poorly built buildings
- (VI) Brewton, Canoe and Lambeth
- Everyone feels movement. People have trouble walking. Objects fall from shelves. Pictures fall off walls. Furniture moves. Plaster in walls might crack. Trees and bushes shake. Damage is slight in poorly built buildings. No structural damage.
- (V) Atmore, Flomaton, Frisco City and Century
- Almost everyone feels movement. Sleeping people are awakened. Doors swing open or close. Dishes are broken. Pictures on the wall move. Small objects move or are turned over. Trees might shake. Liquids might spill out of open containers
- (IV) McDavid, Molino and Walnut Hill
- Most people indoors feel movement. Hanging objects swing. Dishes, windows, and doors rattle. The earthquake feels like a heavy truck hitting the walls. A few people outdoors may feel movement. Parked cars rock.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the North Escambia area sits on the Bahamas Seismic Zone (the BSZ). Several earthquakes have occurred along this zone in recent years, but most are too weak to be felt by residents. While not a likelihood, the USGS says another significant earthquake could happen in the area at any time.
Two professors in the Department of Geology at Auburn University, Joan Gomberg and Lorraine Wolf, published a journal article a few years after the earthquake that theorized that the event was actually caused by the oil and gas industry and extraction wells located from Escambia County, Ala, to Jay.
Pictured top: The U.S. Geological Survey installed a seismic monitoring station just north of Brewton following the 1997 earthquake. Pictured below. Yesterday’s data from the Brewton seismic station. Submitted photos and graphics for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
10 Responses to “North Escambia Area’s Significant Earthquake; Could It Happen Again?”
NORTH ESCAMBIA ALABAMA SITS ON THE BAHAMAS SEISMIC ZONE….ACCORDING TO RESEARCH I HAVE DONE…IT IS A FAIRLY ACTIVE FAULT…JUST NOT HERE IN OUR AREA…WHICH THEN LEADS RESEARCHERS TO BELIEVE THAT WE COULD IN THE NEAR FUTURE BE DUE FOR A BIG ONE….GO FIGURE….GOES TO SHOW YOU…YOU CAN’T ESCAPE MOTHER NATURE……
Well Grits you are right well as far as the research went anyway.The Drilling Companies are supposed to abandoned holes or do something to accomedate the empty holes.If you think and I used to work in the oilfield and there were actually more drilling rigs than people think.I am no scientist but if you think of all the oil,mud,etc. that was brought out of the earth there could be more shifting underneath that would cause earthquakes.Like I said I am no scientist but I said that there would be more after the first one struck.
“I am wondering if it was related to the “New Madrid” fault line?”
Probably not since Wikipedia puts the fault system elsewhere:
“The 150 mi (240 km) long fault system, which extends into five states, stretches southward from Cairo, Illinois, through Hayti, Missouri, Caruthersville and New Madrid, through Blytheville, Arkansas, to Marked Tree. It also covers a part of west Tennessee, near Reelfoot Lake, extending southeast into Dyersburg.
Most of the seismicity is located from 3 to 15 mi (5 to 25 km) beneath the Earth’s surface.”
So if it doesn’t come any closer than Arkansas and Tennessee, it shouldn’t be related.
David just thinking
I am wondering if it was related to the “New Madrid” fault line?
“(V) Atmore, Flomaton, Frisco City and Century
Almost everyone feels movement. Sleeping people are awakened. Doors swing open or close. Dishes are broken. Pictures on the wall move. Small objects move or are turned over. Trees might shake. Liquids might spill out of open containers ”
Homes shakes, we awaken.
DHG: Patsy, are you washing a load of clothes?
PCG: No.
DHG: Hmmm.
Then we went back to sleep in Bluff Springs, 3 miles south of Century
“Two professors in the Department of Geology at Auburn University, Joan Gomberg and Lorraine Wolf, published a journal article a few years after the earthquake that theorized that the event was actually caused by the oil and gas industry and extraction wells located from Escambia County, Ala, to Jay.”
ROTFLOL!!!!
I got a lot of thoughts about that one, but I’ll keep them to myself.
I hate to be picky, but isn’t Brewton further away from the epicenter than Atmore and Flomaton? Seems to me the closer you are, the worse you get shook.
Or should the towns be in that order because of some seismic bands that I don’t comphrehend? I know hurricanes, I don’t know a thing about earthquakes. Inquiring mind wants to know!
We lived in a trailer here in Flomaton then and it almost slid off the blocks! The only thing that held it on was the tie downs. Dishes fell out of the cabinets and broke. I slept through the whole thing.
William, you are a fount of scientific information! Thanks for giving my students lots of material to discuss in science class! Archaeological digs, bald eagles, sun dogs, and now seismic activity! Way to go!
Just letting you know it was felt in Bratt also. My husband was awaken by the movement and the first thing he said, this is an earthquake as he had experienced these in his younger days living in California.
It would be nice to see a graph for time around 3:35 a.m. on October 24, 1997,