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Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What to know about earthquakes in the Northeast
The recent, small earthquakes that rattled the New York metro area serve as a reminder that seismic activity does occur in the region, according to experts, who say it's actually quite common. Two minor earthquakes with an epicenter in Bergen County, New Jersey, occurred within just days of each other, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. On Tuesday, a magnitude 2.7 earthquake struck in Hillsdale, while a magnitude 3.0 quake centered northeast of Hasbrouck Heights shook the region on Saturday. MORE: 2.7 earthquake rattles New York City metro area, 2nd in 4 days The earthquakes caused a flurry of reaction from unsuspecting residents across the most densely populated region in the U.S., who raced to social media to compare experiences. But seismic activity is quite common in the region, even if the earthquakes are not as frequent or strong as the ones that occur on the West Coast, experts told ABC News. Hundreds of small earthquakes have occurred in the Northeast over the past year, Alexander Gates, a geologist at Rutgers University, told ABC News. However, scientists don't expect the general rate of earthquakes in the region to change, as the mechanisms that lead to earthquakes tend to be constant, Oliver Boyd, a research geophysicist at the USGS, told ABC News. "The push from the plate boundaries, the mantle, the convection, the topography ... those forces are relatively constant," he said. "Overall, we don't necessarily expect the rate of earthquakes to change." MORE: Russia earthquake has caused a 'parade of volcanic eruptions': Expert Why earthquakes in the Northeast aren't as strong or frequent Earthquakes in the Western U.S. tend to occur much more frequently and measure stronger than those in the Central and Eastern U.S., the experts said. California is located at the boundary of the North American and Pacific tectonic plates, Boyd said. "A lot" of strain and stress happens at plate boundaries, which causes the earthquakes to be stronger, he added. About 90% of earthquake activity happens at plate boundaries, Michael Steckler, a geophysicist and research professor at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, told ABC News. New Jersey is in the middle of the North American plate, where the stresses "aren't as great," Boyd said. The interiors of the plates are much more stable, leading to fewer earthquakes, Steckler said. "The hazard is definitely a lot higher in the Western U.S. because the rate of earthquakes is much higher," Boyd said. In addition, the earthquakes that occur in the Northeast are "very shallow," compared to the "deep" earthquakes in the West, Gates said. "A lot of times, people will say they actually heard the earthquake, and that's true," Gates said. "...Because they're so shallow here, especially in New Jersey, everyone hears the noise." Much more is known about earthquakes in the West due to the accessibility of the San Andreas Fault, Boyd said. Geologists are able to measure various aspects of deformation along the fault and gather valuable data on the earthquake activity. However, the earthquakes that occur in the New Jersey region tend to be more far-reaching from the epicenter, the experts said. The Earth's crust there is older than in California, but it's also colder and less fractured since it's not near a plate boundary. "When an earthquake does happen, it's felt over a much wider area, whereas in California, all the faults breaking things up means that the seismic energy doesn't go very, very far," Steckler said. It is not out of the realm of possibility that strong earthquakes can occur in the Northeast. In 2011, an earthquake near Mineral, Virginia, measured at 5.8 on the Richter scale. And in 1811, earthquakes in the upper Mississippi Embayment in what is now New Madrid, Missouri, measured between magnitude 7 and 8, Boyd said. An earthquake that struck Charleston, South Carolina, in 1886 measured at a magnitude 7.0, according to the USGS. "There's the potential for a damaging earthquake to occur in the Eastern U.S., but it's pretty rare -- every 100 or 200 years," Boyd said. MORE: Small earthquake rattles parts of New York City area, New Jersey There may be several unknown fault lines in the Northeast Faults that have been mapped in the Central and Eastern U.S. are "many, many millions of years old" -- many produced during the Mesozoic era, Boyd said. Those faults have had time to heal. And while some earthquakes may be originating from them, new cracks have likely been forming, Steckler said. Regions in the upper Mississippi embayment are probably reactivating older faults that formed when the rift basin was formed, Boyd said. In New Jersey, some of the faults from the Mesozoic rifting could be reactivating, he added. "When stress builds up, if there's a pre-existing weakness, the Earth will use it," Steckler said. "So, it will use older faults when it can." Earthquakes in the Northeast tend to be active for a short period of time before the activity shifts to another area, Gates said. "These faults get active for a year, and then they go dead," he said, adding that it could be 50, 100 years before they become active again. But since the earthquakes in the region don't tend to rupture to the surface, researchers can't pinpoint exactly where the faults they are occurring are, Boyd said. Gates believes the region is amid peak activity of a 40-year cycle and that an uptick of activity will likely continue for another couple of years. "Within a couple of years, we'll start getting less and less, and then there'll be a period where we won't get many earthquakes at all," Gates said.
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Geologist has different take on what's behind recent earthquakes in New Jersey
New Jersey's most recent 2.7 magnitude Bergen County-centered earthquake didn't much surprise one geologist, who had predicted the Northeast region would be experiencing a period of increased seismic activity. In 2020, Alexander Gates, a geology professor at Rutgers University Newark campus, said he and one of his graduate students theorized that over the next several years, there would be an upswing of earthquakes in the area. In reviewing the available data, they said they uncovered what will be a 40-year cycle of earthquakes that will periodically rock Metropolitan New York. The most recent quakes appear to be part of that cycle, he said. Story continues below photo gallery. Gates and graduate student Michael Kalczynski brought the information to a meeting of the Geological Society of America. They were not able to get their findings published, but Gates said it doesn't mean they aren't on to something. Gates said he still has the abstract they produced and hopes to someday publish the entire work. From their data, they concluded about five years ago that the New York/New Jersey region was overdue for an earthquake of 3.8 magnitude or greater. Four years later, on April 5, 2024, Gates was vindicated when a 4.8 magnitude earthquake was recorded with an epicenter in Tewksbury Township. The shaking was felt in New Jersey, New York and neighboring states. "If it had published, I'd be famous," he said. Moreover, the same findings also predicted an upswing in quakes throughout the region. He said there were around 200 quakes recorded in 2024, as well as several in 2025, such as Tuesday's 2.7 magnitude earthquake centered near Hillsdale and Saturday's centered in Hasbrouck Heights. Part of the reason he said his theory was glossed over is that it contradicts the current theory that the 200-million-year-old Ramapo Fault is the source of the region's seismic activity. The Ramapo Fault is the largest in the Northeast and runs from Pennsylvania through New Jersey, snaking northeast through Hunterdon, Somerset, Morris, Passaic and Bergen counties before coming to an end in New York's Westchester County. Story continues below video. The most recent quakes, particularly the one in Hasbrouck Heights, are not close to the Ramapo Fault, he said. Gates, however, contends that the newer faults, 65 million years old, caused by the pulling of the region's plates to the east, are the source of the quakes. These faults run throughout the region and even under New York City. While last year's Tewksbury quake released tension along the fault lines, its movement caused tension elsewhere. Subsequent earthquakes can occur to release the tensions created, he said, adding this type of low-level seismic activity can last for several years. The data they've scrutinized has shown a roughly 40-year cycle, which has been going on since at least 1884. The professor, to teach his classes, takes students on field trips to the woods where they can find the faults that run at angles to the Ramapo Fault. How common are earthquakes in the Northeast? To put earthquake magnitudes in perspective, seismologists say each year there are about 900,000 earthquakes of 2.5 magnitude or less recorded by seismographs. These mild tremors are usually not felt. Although in North Jersey, these quakes can often be heard because they are shallow. "The crack you hear is the crack of rock breaking," Gates said. There are also 30,000 quakes annually that measure between 2.5 and 5.4 on the Richter scale, and these are often felt and cause minor damage. About 500 quakes worldwide are recorded between 5.5 and 6 magnitude per year and cause slight damage to buildings and structures. The 100 that fall within 6.1 and 6.9 may cause lots of damage in populated areas. The 20 or so that fall within the 7 and 7.9 magnitude per year are considered major and cause serious damage. Those that measure at 8 or greater can destroy communities near the epicenter and average one every five to 10 years. Earthquakes in the Northeastern United States are intraplate ones, meaning they occur within the plates. Earthquakes of this type account for more than 90% of the total seismic energy released around the world. Plates are the masses of the earth's crust that slowly move, maybe as little as a few centimeters a year to as much as 18 centimeters, around the globe. Faults such as the San Andreas are interplate and occur near where two plates meet. This article originally appeared on Earthquakes in NJ: Geologist has different take on cause Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled NJ on April 5, 2024. What we've learned since
One year ago, on April 5, 2024, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck near Tewksbury, rattling homes and nerves across New Jersey and beyond. The strongest quake to hit the state in more than a century, it was felt from Virginia to Maine but left little lasting damage. The Hunterdon County earthquake was the most significant to hit North Jersey since Aug. 10, 1884. On that day, a magnitude 5.2 quake near Jamaica Bay in New York shook buildings as far inland as Rahway. Only three other quakes in modern history have caused damage in the Garden State: one in 1737 near Weehawken, another in 1783 in the Rockaway Township area and a third in 1927 off the coast near Asbury Park. The damage in those cases was limited to collapsed chimneys and falling objects—similar to the minor incidents reported in 2024, according to the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management. The state has no record of an earthquake-related fatality. Story continues below photo gallery. The epicenter of last April's quake was located about two miles from Tewksbury, within the Ramapo Fault System. This fault network, running from Pennsylvania through northern New Jersey and into New York, is the region's most active seismic zone. Though earthquakes are more common in plate boundary regions, the Ramapo Fault is among the few locations in the eastern U.S. with recurring seismic activity. The April 2024 earthquake's damage was wide-ranging and not limited to the area around the epicenter. That is unusual, as were the high number of aftershocks — more than 200 — according to findings by the Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "Once it moved, it stressed the whole area," said Rutgers-Newark geology professor Alexander Gates, noting the aftershocks were scattered around the epicenter "like a shotgun blast." Based on existing models, the epicenter of the earthquake should have sustained substantial damage. It did not. Meanwhile, New York City shook harder than expected, suffering some minor damage. While a 4.8 magnitude earthquake is not major, it was felt by 42 million people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The response triggered by the quake was also unusual. The USGS online portal that crowdsources first-person reports of shaking received nearly 184,000 entries — the most from any U.S. earthquake. Scientists at South Korea's Seoul National University analyzed the low-frequency waves of energy that bounced back and forth between the Earth's surface and the boundary between the Earth's crust and mantle, which in this area lies about 35 kilometers or 21 miles down. Their analysis suggests that the quake took place on a previously unmapped fault that runs from south to north. The fault is not vertical but rather dips eastward into the Earth at about a 45-degree angle. According to the analysis, the movement was rapid and complex. There was a circular combination of the two sides of the fault sliding horizontally against each other and one side also shoving itself up and over the other. In 2025, things have been quiet deep underground. Some state residents felt the earth shake in the early morning of March 21, when a minor earthquake struck Somerset County, but no damage was reported, officials said. The 1.8-magnitude earthquake originated about 4.3 miles from Gladstone, not all that far from Tewksbury, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It struck at 8:23 a.m. about 5 miles deep. Residents reported minimal shaking, according to Cartographer Mitch Adelson. Some residents also reported feeling some shaking on Jan. 24, when, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's earthquake map, a magnitude 2.4 earthquake with a depth of more than 8 miles occurred near Paramus just after 1 p.m. No damage was reported, but residents reported loud booms, rattling and shaking. Most years are relatively quiet, according to Gates. In the half-century before 2024, the state had about 350 earthquakes. Most are too small to cause major concern. Before April 2024, the largest quake in the state this century was a 3.5 magnitude event north of Milford. Most others have been below 2.0, according to state records. Earthquakes below magnitude 2.5 are generally too weak to be felt, according to an assessment from Michigan Tech University. Those between 2.5 and 5.4 are typically noticeable but cause little damage. Quakes ranging from 5.5 to 6.0 can result in minor structural damage. Despite the rarity of strong earthquakes, vulnerabilities exist. Earthquakes like last year's were intraplate quakes, occurring within a tectonic plate rather than along its boundaries. "These are really difficult to predict," Gates said, comparing them to interplate quakes that happen where plates meet. Interplate quakes, like those that occur along the famous San Andreas Fault in California, are more predictable than the ones that hit near New Madrid, Missouri, in the early 1800s, he added. The first, estimated at a magnitude between 7.2 and 8.2, hit on Dec. 16, 1811. It was followed by a 7.4 aftershock the same day. Two more quakes of similar magnitude followed in January and February 1812. "Those were monsters," Gates said. "That's three in less than two years, and then nothing." New Jersey's major modern-era quakes have been in the magnitude 5.0 range and normally happen in 100-year cycles, Gates said. "Does that mean we have to wait 100 years for another?" Gates said. "Most Likely. Can I say that another one will not happen in the foreseeable future with any certainty? No." There also remains the possibility of a New Madrid-type catastrophe. Modelling shows the Metro New York area is due for a similar size earthquake, 7.0 or greater, every 3,500 years, he said. If a major quake does hit, the state and federal departments of transportation's liquefaction maps indicate that bridges in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Ocean and Union counties have a high risk of ground instability. Older buildings and infrastructure — built before modern seismic codes — are also more susceptible to damage. A 2,500-year earthquake event could lead to economic losses of more than $24 billion, according to the 2024 New Jersey State Hazard Mitigation Plan. Hazard levels are highest in Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties. Levels generally decrease to the west and south. Historical records show that earthquake epicenters have been recorded in 20 of New Jersey's 21 counties. Most have occurred in the northern part of the state, but every county except Cape May includes earthquakes as a hazard in its mitigation plans. Like other natural disasters, earthquakes can severely disrupt critical infrastructure, leading to power outages, fuel shortages and failures in water supply and energy distribution systems. Earthquakes can trigger landslides and mudslides, particularly on steep slopes with clay-rich soils that lose cohesion during seismic activity. Unstable slopes can also release hazardous materials, posing risks to people and the environment. Earthen dams and levees are especially vulnerable, with failures considered a secondary risk of earthquakes, state records show. Dam failures caused by earthquakes typically result from slumping or settlement in earth-fill dams that were not properly compacted, according to state reports. If a dam slumps while full, overtopping and rapid erosion can lead to structural failure. Concrete dams may also suffer heavy damage from strong ground motion, while earthquake-induced landslides into reservoirs have been known to cause dam collapses. Tsunamis, though rare in the region, can also result from earthquakes. On Nov. 18, 1929, just as the Great Depression was beginning to take hold around the world, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the Western North Atlantic, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was felt as far away as New York and Montreal, but it was not clear at first that an underwater landslide had triggered a tsunami. About two and a half hours after the earthquake, the tsunami hit the southern end of Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula in three main surges. Reports put wave heights as high as 13 meters (42.6 feet). The tsunami was recorded along the east coast of Canada and the U.S., in Bermuda and as far south as Martinique in the Caribbean. This article originally appeared on What we've learned since a 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled NJ
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
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I've Tried Hundreds of Craft IPAs. This Cheap, Easy-to-Find Beer Is My Go-to in a Pinch
I write about beer for a living, which means I taste a lot of the stuff. Most of it is great, especially IPAs. I can rattle off a list of bangers made with everything from foraged spruce tips to experimental hops that don't even have names yet, whether made by iconic industry trailblazers or under-the-radar nano-producers. But for all the obscure IPAs we insufferable beer geeks hunt down and boast about—bonus points if you can pinpoint all five hops in the aroma or remember the entire three-sentence name of that Evil Twin hazy—there's something undeniably irresistible about what you might refer to as a 'supermarket IPA.' Supermarket IPAs are those well-known bottles and cans from big independent craft breweries or their corporate-owned counterparts that have resources to earn shelf space in national chains. For example, one of the founders of Tree House Brewing in Massachusetts includes options from Lagunitas, Stone, and Goose Island in his supermarket IPA taste test video. In short, a supermarket IPA is there when you need it, wherever you are. You know what you're getting is consistently good in flavor and mouthfeel, and they're great for introducing craft beer to new drinkers. As a beer fan since 2008 and beer writer since 2017, I've had countless IPAs. When I'm in a situation where I need something tasty, cheap, and available—a crowd-pleaser for a party, decent brew at the limited airport bar, or convenience store pickup in a craft beer desert—I reach for a Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing every time. Sierra Nevada launched Hazy Little Thing in 2018. It was a big move for a seminal brewery that had built their reputation on a different interpretation of hoppy. 'Hazy Little Thing broke the mold at Sierra Nevada and marked a mindset shift for us,' says Isaiah Mangold, Sierra Nevada's head innovation brewer. 'The explorative process we went through as we developed that beer unlocked so many ideas and possibilities that we had never considered before, because at that time we only knew what we had always known: that IPAs by nature were meant to be sharp, bitter, and clear.' Smooth, sweet, and juicy, Hazy Little Thing was born to be its own offshoot brand, similar to the Voodoo Ranger series from fellow OG New Belgium Brewing. These brands were made for supermarket-IPA status. With their big, fruity flavors and splashy can art, they appeal to anyone wandering the aisle—whether they have an Untappd account or not. 'The Hazy Little Thing flagship has become ubiquitous,' says beer judge and writer Alexander Gates. 'There are lots of other sub-brands competing in this space, namely hazy IPAs at a lower price point…while Hazy Little Thing isn't as full-flavored as [Sierra Nevada's] Celebration or Torpedo, [it's] more approachable to people that may not like an aggressively bitter beer.' Hopped with citra, magnum, simcoe, comet, mosaic, and el dorado, Hazy Little Thing delivers a pleasant blend of orange gummy candies and overripe tropical fruit with some nice bitter pine and tea notes for balance. It does so with a full, velvety mouthfeel that's not too heavy or filling. It's a perfect middle-of-the-road option—not too explosively hoppy or smoothie-like for hazy IPA newbies, but flavor-forward and substantial enough to satisfy a hazy IPA fan. At 6.7 percent ABV in a standard-sized 12-ounce can, its buzz isn't overpowering, either. The proof is in the numbers for Hazy Little Thing's appeal. Per Nielsen data for 2024, it's the third ranked craft beer brand in the United States and the top-selling hazy IPA. Its success has blossomed into an entire portfolio featuring imperial, session, West Coast, and additional IPA 'Little Things,' nicknamed Big, Hoppy, Tropical, Rad, Dank, Cosmic, and Juicy. There's even a Wild Little Thing sour. The names, Gates notes, are another approachable feature. 'They're accurately described by their names, so they're also less pretentious and clear…whether [the consumer] has had a dank or juicy IPA before or not,' he says. The sub-brand has something for every kind of IPA fan at every level, no doubt. But the one that started it all, Hazy Little Thing, remains unrivaled in its crowd-pleasing quality.
