alumni reception - Syracuse Universe Department of Earth Sciences ...

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY ROCKS & ROLLS
Story by: Daniel Curewitz
An interesting occurrence on June 23, 2010
(coincidentally, my daughter’s birthday) saw a
somewhat surprising
change in the behavior
of the normally
solid, quiescent earth
beneath the City of
Syracuse … The early
afternoon of that day
was interrupted by a
rush of students and
faculty into the halls
(and outside!) as
the building started
Zoe Curewitz - Birthday girl!
swaying, shelves rattling,
chairs rolling around… “What’s that!??” The calls
started rolling into the office, several professors
(Baldwin and Karson in particular) made cameo
appearances on local TV and radio programs, and the
questions from students, faculty and staff came fast
and furious. My 10 years in Tokyo came back in a rush
… “It’s a small earthquake somewhat far from us!”
1) the Grenville mountain building event about 1
billion years ago, followed by
2) the opening of the Iapetus Ocean about 600
million years ago, which then was closed by
3) the collision between North America,
Eurasia, and Africa to form Pangea, and the
Appalachian mountain chain about 400 to 200
million years ago, and lastly,
4) the opening of the present day Atlantic Ocean
starting about 200 million years ago
All of these events left large scars, cracks, fractures,
volcanic rocks and rift basins behind that have shaped
the geography and geology of the East Coast of the
Jeffrey Karson appearing on local Channel 9 News.
A small office pool was quickly organized,
seeing who could best predict the size and location
of the earthquake. (Congrats to Jim Metcalf!) It turns
out that there was a magnitude 5 earthquake about
200 miles north of the city, in Canada along the St.
Lawrence River valley. Surprising? Not really. The St.
Lawrence River valley is actually set in a rift system
that is a remnant of several tectonic cycles (Wilson
Cycles, named for famed geophysicist/geologist J.
Tuzo Wilson) of opening and closing of oceans:
The earthquake was centered near Ottowa, Canada.
US – the Connecticut River, the Hudson River, the St.
Lawrence River and many more rivers and basins from
Nova Scotia to Georgia are reflections of that billion
year history. Where the Earth’s outer shell is cracked,
thinned, and rifted, it is easier for small stresses to
cause earthquakes. The St. Lawrence region from
Upstate NY and Ontario through Quebec, Vermont,
New Hampshire, Maine and into the Canadian
Maritime provinces is actually host to quite a few
(mostly small) earthquakes every year. There have
been several quite large events, as large as magnitude
6.7 (1925) or estimated magnitude 7 (1663) have taken
place in the region. For interesting information and
excellent visual aids visit http://earthquakescanada.
nrcan.gc.ca/zones/eastcan-eng.php (but I wouldn’t
worry too much about “the big one” it’s pretty stable
here in the middle part of the continent!)