How on this "tembloring" Earth did I miss this thread?
In 1978, when I was about 13, my family moved from Texas to California. When I heard a news reporter saying the word "temblor" I thought at first he meant to say "tremor" and just make an on-air mistake. When I heard it repeated over the years, being a California transplant, I just figured that's what they call Earthquakes here.
I moved from Dallas to Lemoore California (yeah, I know.... where?). Having experienced a few tornadoes, I was ready to experience my next natural disaster, an Earthquake! I was bummed because they said we never get Earthquakes in the San Joaquin Valley. Seven months later, while in 8th grade algebra class, we were sitting in the portable classroom (why do they call it a "portable", they never move them) taking a quiz or something, when the girl behind me started to shake my desk.... Except it couldn't have been the girl behind me, because (a) she was absent that day, and (b) everyone else started looking around too wondering what was going on. Then, someone pointed to the hanging retractable screen that was swaying nicely. "Earthquake" someone yelled.
Some panicked and got scared.
Me?
My thought..... "Oh My God.... This is Soooo COOL!!!!"
It seemed no one ever mentioned that if the quake was big, you could feel it a long distance away. This quake was centered in the Mammoth Lakes region, and would be the start of a swarm of quakes, the largest being a 7.2 a year or so later.
After that, I was hooked. As long as nothing falls on me, I love the things.
The closest I've been to the epicenter of a large quake was the 6.5 quake in 83, cantered in Coalinga, a town just 40 miles from Lemoore. I was looking under my mom's car, trying to pinpoint the source of the oil leak, when the car started shaking a bit. I thought my mom was playing a joke, but when I saw she was standing several feet away, I scooted out from under the Maxima. I probably never moved so fast! Man, that was a big quake. You could see the streets rolling. By that time I had done a lot of reading on the mechanics of quakes, and could feel the difference between the P wave and the S wave. What I didn't know was that this quake would become an important one seismologically because it confirmed the existence of blind-thrust faults was much more prevalent in California than previously recognized.
Anyway, I loved Earthquakes so much I went back to college in 98 to study seismology. The bummer is that I couldn't handle the calculus, so now I'm a geology school drop-out. Oh, and I also don't recall ever hearing a professor using the term "temblor".
PS. Do I ever get scared during an earthquake? During one aftershock of the Coalinga quake, a 4.9'er, we were in the high school auditorium rehearsing a play. With all the heavy stage lighting banging away up in the fly space, yeah, that was scary. And yes, I flew out of that building like there was no tomorrow.
PPS. Yes, my San Diego guitarists did e-mail me last night to rub it in about the latest Ocotillo aftershock, which he felt and I didn't. Man, I have to get out of Fresno. I miss all the fun!
In 1978, when I was about 13, my family moved from Texas to California. When I heard a news reporter saying the word "temblor" I thought at first he meant to say "tremor" and just make an on-air mistake. When I heard it repeated over the years, being a California transplant, I just figured that's what they call Earthquakes here.
I moved from Dallas to Lemoore California (yeah, I know.... where?). Having experienced a few tornadoes, I was ready to experience my next natural disaster, an Earthquake! I was bummed because they said we never get Earthquakes in the San Joaquin Valley. Seven months later, while in 8th grade algebra class, we were sitting in the portable classroom (why do they call it a "portable", they never move them) taking a quiz or something, when the girl behind me started to shake my desk.... Except it couldn't have been the girl behind me, because (a) she was absent that day, and (b) everyone else started looking around too wondering what was going on. Then, someone pointed to the hanging retractable screen that was swaying nicely. "Earthquake" someone yelled.
Some panicked and got scared.
Me?
My thought..... "Oh My God.... This is Soooo COOL!!!!"
It seemed no one ever mentioned that if the quake was big, you could feel it a long distance away. This quake was centered in the Mammoth Lakes region, and would be the start of a swarm of quakes, the largest being a 7.2 a year or so later.
After that, I was hooked. As long as nothing falls on me, I love the things.
The closest I've been to the epicenter of a large quake was the 6.5 quake in 83, cantered in Coalinga, a town just 40 miles from Lemoore. I was looking under my mom's car, trying to pinpoint the source of the oil leak, when the car started shaking a bit. I thought my mom was playing a joke, but when I saw she was standing several feet away, I scooted out from under the Maxima. I probably never moved so fast! Man, that was a big quake. You could see the streets rolling. By that time I had done a lot of reading on the mechanics of quakes, and could feel the difference between the P wave and the S wave. What I didn't know was that this quake would become an important one seismologically because it confirmed the existence of blind-thrust faults was much more prevalent in California than previously recognized.
Anyway, I loved Earthquakes so much I went back to college in 98 to study seismology. The bummer is that I couldn't handle the calculus, so now I'm a geology school drop-out. Oh, and I also don't recall ever hearing a professor using the term "temblor".
PS. Do I ever get scared during an earthquake? During one aftershock of the Coalinga quake, a 4.9'er, we were in the high school auditorium rehearsing a play. With all the heavy stage lighting banging away up in the fly space, yeah, that was scary. And yes, I flew out of that building like there was no tomorrow.
PPS. Yes, my San Diego guitarists did e-mail me last night to rub it in about the latest Ocotillo aftershock, which he felt and I didn't. Man, I have to get out of Fresno. I miss all the fun!
Now, it's all about the Puente Hills Fault or some other not-yet-identified blind thrust fault.
