4.6 Earthquake in Western Montana

[bigworld]

Source: USGS

Location 45.538°N, 112.052°W
Depth 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program
Region WESTERN MONTANA
# Distances 14 km (9 miles) NE (51°) from Sheridan, MT
# 22 km (14 miles) E (92°) from Twin Bridges, MT
# 24 km (15 miles) N (10°) from Alder, MT
# 394 km (245 miles) NE (56°) from Boise, ID
# 532 km (331 miles) N (359°) from Salt Lake City, UT

Read more: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007ccay.php

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That's pretty big for this area, isn't it?

[NMDemDist2]

1. that's too close to Yellowstone's volcanos for me

:scared:

[glitch]

11. Exactly my first thought...:( nt

[Kikosexy2]

25. Hmmm...

too many disasters going on....floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes are on the way...too much global warming?...Are there enough National Guards around to help or are they all bogged down in Iraq?...Heaven help the Preznut if he gets caught up in a natural disaster...who will save him?...

[glitch]

28. Oh I am sure Blackwater will save the Preznut.

They call all live happily together in their spidey holes.

[carly denise pt deux]

29. heaven help us all if those decide to erupt it would be disastrous

I just saw a tv show on Discovery about that area and what impact it would be on the entire world if the vocanoes pulled a Mt. St Helens
Carly

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Not really--Read here

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/montana/history.php

Montana


Earthquake History
Montana is one of the most seismically active States in the Union. Since 1925, the State has experienced five shocks that reached intensity VIII or greater (Modified Mercalli Scale). During the same interval hundreds of less severe tremors were felt within the State. Montana's earthquake activity is concentrated mostly in the mountainous western third of the State which lies within a seismic zone that also includes southeastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and central Utah.

Although earthquakes are common in Montana, the early history of felt shocks is incomplete. Only four felt earthquakes that occurred before 1900 are on record. The first was a shock on May 22, 1869, that reached intensity VI at Helena. In 1872 Helena was shaken again, this time by two earthquakes, one on December 10 and the other on December 11, both intensity VI. The fourth pre-1900 earthquake was an intensity VI shock that struck Dillon November 4, 1897.

more at link
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/montana/history.php

[montanacowboy]

3. Uh..that would be EASTERN Montana

nt

[sandnsea]

7. Uhm, no

Sheridan is over by Virginia City, Twin Bridges is on the Big Hole, IIRC.

[montanacowboy]

9. Wrong

Sheridan, Wyo is not by Virginia City
Twin Bridges is on the Eastern side of the Continental Divide

[sandnsea]

12. Sheridan MT

And Twin Bridges is over on the Big Hole, I used to fish and camp there every summer.

[havocmom]

8. Sheirdan? Twin Bridges? HUH?

That is not far from my brother who is in Whitehall, just a jog from Butte. I am in the eastern part of Montana. Quite a drive from here to Twin Bridges!

The quake was east of the DIVIDE, but misses Eastern Montana by a long shot.

[montanacowboy]

10. If it's East of the Divide it's

Eastern Montana; that's the way we call it here

[janetle]

15. You are not correct.

[Stephanie]

17. no it's not

Helena is east of the divide - that's not eastern MT.

[havocmom]

32. That's not what all the folks I know who live there call it

They would get right indignant at ya

[John Q. Citizen]

34. No "we" don't . Butte is definitely SW Montana. Eastern Montana is

Miles City.

Even Bozeman and Livinstone is considereded SW Montana. Heck, Lewistown is the geographical center of the states.

[Ediacara]

41. uh, no we don't

Bozeman and VC are certainly not "eastern Montana."

[Jazzgirl]

30. Havocmom, I spent some time in Butte.

Trained a whole group of trainmen there to use a computer to report their work. Drove up to the Continental Divide. Gorgeous!I was soooo impressed......

JG

[havocmom]

33. It is pretty, isn't it? Did you fly in? That is some approach to the airport

coming in, staring at that big expanse of mountain face before sliding in on the runway! Then, some clown put the cematary right close. ;)

[Debi]

4. Hmmm My folks live in Bozeman

I'll have to call them.....

[Debi]

22. Just called my Dad in Bozeman and he had no idea there even was an earthquake

:shrug: Bozeman is about 80 miles east of Alder, maybe that was enough to not feel the quake??

[Ediacara]

42. I'm in Bozeman, and I felt nothing

[Debi]

43. Good deal...means my Dad isn't crazy! N/T

[sandnsea]

5. It happens

Hebgen Lake in 1959 comes to mind

http://www.seis.utah.edu/NEHRP_HTM/1959hebg/n1959he4.htm

Created Quake Lake

http://www.bigskymontananet.com/attractions/quake_lake.php

[havocmom]

6. eh, not too big. Remember, we have that big ol pool of magma close by that area

and the mountains are not terribly old from a geologic view.

But my brother's cats are probably a bit annoyed.

Back in the early 80s there was a bad quake around Lima, MT and Idaho. Some school kids were killed. I was in Helena at the time. That quake rolled for what seemed like an eternity, and I grew up in Southern Calif, so earthquakes don't generally spook me. The floor of our apartment actually had waves in it under the carpeting. Confused the hell outta the dog and cats. Made me sick to my stomach.

The crust has been moving over that little weak spot for magma to erupt that is known a Yellowstone for some time. Read something that the Snake River Gorge used to be over the hot spot. I am now well east of there, on clay instead of the granite underlay the western part of the state has. Doesn't shake much here, but if the Yellowstone Super Volcano blows, I will have just enough time to say OH SHIT! and hug my dog.

[LSparkle]

16. I live in California and a 4.6 isn't just a little shake

It's something you can really feel, and for people in Montana who aren't used to temblors, I'm sure it's shaken them up (hopefully no major damage or injuries, though).

[janetle]

18. Not nearly as many as CA

..But Montana is not unfamiliar with earthquakes. I felt the 1959 one as a child that killed many campers in and near Yellowstone Park. And Helena, where I grew up, had a devastating quake in 1935. I felt many many small earthquakes in both Helena and Bozeman.

Pictures of the devastation in 1935 in Helena:
http://www.seis.utah.edu/lqthreat/nehrp_htm/1935hele/c1935he2.shtml

[knight_of_the_star]

19. Yeah that's nothing

It takes up to a 6.0 for things to start falling off the walls, things like that.

[mitchtv]

35. that's exactly what a 4.6 is

a shaker, no damage 'cept maybe a liquor store near the epicenter. Small beans

[lonestarnot]

13. Did Dead-eye Dick's house fall in the crack?

[janetle]

14. My brother lives in Sheridan MT

My sister-in-law just sent me an e-mail. She is a teacher and so is my brother in the local elementary school (the town is pop. 500)and since they were pretty much sitting on the epicenter, they really felt it and had to get all of the kids outside. It gave them a good scare.

And yes, this is in southwestern Montana and it is beautiful there.

[Stephanie]

20. Earthquake rattles Southwest Montana >

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/05/08/helena_top/000aaquake.txt

Earthquake rattles Southwest Montana
By MARTIN J. KIDSTON IR Staff Writer

A moderate earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale shook the ground throughout Southwest Montana on Tuesday morning, rattling windows and dishes.

The quake struck at 9:46 a.m. and was felt in Helena, along with other regions of the state. The temblor follows a 5.6 magnitude quake that hit the region on a late summer night in 2005, and a swarm of quakes that hit the Yellowstone region last week.

“This one happened right when we were changing records — the paper drum records,” said Cy Webster, an assistant at the Earthquake Studies Office at the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology. “We’ve got ink all over hands.”

The epicenter was about three miles deep and roughly 38 miles south of Butte. No damage was reported Tuesday morning.

The first call came into the Earthquake Studies Office in Butte just as the shaking stopped, Webster said. Other calls followed from across the region, including Wise River, Twin Bridges, Helena, and Missoula.

“I was sitting in my easy chair watching TV and the chair started wiggling,” said Helena resident Dave Crockstead, who lives on Broadway. “I thought, ‘What the hell?’ I looked over at the table and the stuff on it was wiggling back and forth like crazy.”

The movement was felt in the central Helena Valley as well. Some at Fort Harrison, located on the west end of the valley, also felt the temblor.

“Things on my shelf were rattling,” said Garth Scott. “It lasted two or three seconds. I’m on the second floor and things were moving around pretty good.”

Webster said today’s equipment can isolate an earthquake’s epicenter almost immediately. Personal accounts, he added, are also useful.

“That’s an actual method used to find an earthquake,” Webster said. “That’s how they locate the older quakes, looking back at older newspapers and personal accounts. It’s nearly a science of its own.”

[Der Blaue Engel]

21. Maybe this will clear up the Western/Eastern question

A picture is worth a thousand posts.

[blitzen]

23. damn...that's my fishing hole on the Madison river....

I wonder if it turned the trout on....

[Debi]

24. Well, if everything east of the Divide is Eastern Montana

then most of Montana is Eastern Montana...



I grew up in Bozeman, and I always told people it was in the Southwest corner of the state.

[janetle]

26. Thank you for posting the continental divide!

I grew up in Helena which is east of the divide but it was always considered to be western Montana. I can't even believe this is an issue.

[Debi]

27. It seems us Western Montanans that lived east of the Divide

have something to teach those FAR Westerners! :hi:

Spent a lot of time in Helena during high school (1983-1986) Was in the Catholic Youth Coalition and attended meetings up at the Diocese. LOVE Helena!

[mitchtv]

36. I lived for a short time in Wolf Point

THAT is eastern Montana

[havocmom]

38. Yes indeedy! LOL

And it is a whole different place than Twin Bridges, Sheridan, Butte, Bozeman, and most assuredly Helena!

Half the folks in my area (not far from Wolf Point) only half-jokingly call this West Dakota. ;)

Different soils. Different water. Different socio-political mind-set.

[burrowowl]

31. Hopefully, it relieves some

of the stress and strain in the Yellowstone area.

[1776Forever]

37. go here for map - shows Yellowstone REALLY close!

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/STORE/X2007ccay/ciim_display.html

[Honeycombe8]

39. Isn't that where Cheney's from? Or is he from Wyoming? nt

[havocmom]

40. Wyoming

There is a Sheridan in WY and a Sheridan in MT, so it is a tad confusing.

[Squatch]

44. Eastern MT - Western MT ...eh...what's the difference.

It's all God's country out there.



The one thing I wish I could change is my wife's aversion to the West. When I was growing up, I swore I would live and die in Montana...so I went an married a Jersey girl to avoid that particular fate.