27 November 2009

Well, Looka That

As I may have mentioned (heh), I've been under the weather the last couple days. I was telling Jen last night that all the congestion in my head must have really been messing with my equilibrium because as I was sitting on the couch yesterday afternoon I could have sworn there was a low-grade, long-lasting rumble of an earthquake going on.

It seemed to me that the couch was -- ever so slightly, but nonetheless -- moving from side to side. But we don't have that kind of earthquake here in Costa Rica.

Except, as it turns out, we did have two of them yesterday. The first was while we were out (looking at a potential home -- it was not the One, unfortunately) and it rumbled on for about 15 minutes. The second (which was the one I felt) lasted about three minutes.

(click to embiggen)


So I wasn't as messed up as I thought I was.

Almost Immediate Update: I didn't look further than the seismograph page I showed you before I posted, but it turns out that the first one was apparently associated with a 5.9 temblor off the coast of El Salvador. Which could mean that the second was an aftershock.

I don't know as much as I would like to about all this. Maybe one of my readers -- perhaps one who hangs out near his favorite coffee shop -- could point me (and any other interested parties) to some layman accessible information.

3 comments:

Lockwood said...

Here's a geologic map of Costa Rica. (870 KB PDF) The offshore quake was likely associated with the subduction zone (not marked on the map) that creates the volcanoes there, but I don't know for sure. I haven't seen any other news on these quakes, but I'll keep looking.

Lockwood said...

Here's another article on the larger one.

Unknown said...

Wow..I just rely on the USGS for my info too Bob. But Lockwood seems to be quite knowledgeable on the subject ;)