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Earth Science

4.0 Earthquake Near Concord, California 128

Posted by timothy from the live-from-the-scene dept.
craighansen writes: Just felt a small earthquake, which I confirmed at USGS was a magnitude 4.0 at 2015-05-03 22:13:19 UTC, followed by a magnitude 2.7 a minute later, both located near Concord, California.
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4.0 Earthquake Near Concord, California More

4.0 Earthquake Near Concord, California

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  • A story for those who (Score:5, Insightful)

    by justthinkit ( 954982 ) <floyd@just-think-it.com> on Sunday May 03, 2015 @06:06PM (#49607801) Homepage Journal
    A story for those who don't understand orders of magnitude?
    • It appears to be strong enough to break the slashdot RSS feed... every link goes to a "Moved Permanently" page with yet another link... the quake must have shifted some bits around in storage...

    • A story for those who don't understand orders of magnitude?

      To be fair, Dice Holdings is located in Urbandale, Iowa. It's not like they get many earthquakes in that part of the US.

      • Re:A story for those who (Score:5, Informative)

        by monkeyzoo ( 3985097 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @09:05PM (#49608521)

        Below are the California earthquakes of equal or greater magnitude (i.e., not much to speak of) this year...
        The point is, a 4.0 earthquale is NOT NEWS! Sorry

        5/3 4.01 in Concord
        4/24 2 quakes at 5.5 off the coast near Eureka
        4/10 4 quakes: 4.5, 4.5, 4.85, & 4.8 off the coast near Eureka
        3/30 4.02 in Baker
        3/27 4.2 near Fresno
        2/14 4.49 near Death Valley
        1/29 4.26 near Eureka
        1/28 2 quakes: 5.14 & 5.6 near Eureka
        1/20 2 quakes: 4.71 & 4.9 near Monterey
        1/14 4.06 near Eureka
        1/4 4.5 near Santa Clarita
        1/1 5.3 off the coast near Eureka

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by scm ( 21828 )
          I live in Oakland just a few miles away, and I didn't even notice it.

    • Re:A story for those who (Score:5, Informative)

      by choprboy ( 155926 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @07:52PM (#49608247) Homepage

      A story for those who don't understand orders of magnitude?

      As a former Californian, the magnitude scale goes something like this:
      3.5 - Huh, what? When did that happen?
      4.0 - Ehh, something moved slightly...
      4.5 - Oh, I actually felt that one there.
      5.0 - Heh, that actually qualifies as an earthquake.
      5.5 - Oh boy, we are starting to shake pretty good. Stay away from the glass, this one might be a little rough.
      6.0 - Find a doorway quick and hang on! This one will be rough.
      6.5 - Oh crap, duck and cover! 20sec of destruction, 2 weeks of "The Big One is coming! Are you prepared? Will you die?!" news stories.
      7.0 - Oh $h17!!! This one is going to hurt.
      8.0 - Wait, what? You mean the Big One is real?

      Scale +/-0.5 depending on where you are located in California (i.e. Bay area vs. Inland empire). A 4.0 ranks as barely noticable ...

      • I'm out of mod points else would definitely give you a +1 informative. And based on the map, I was about a 1/2 mile from the epicenter of this one and didn't feel it - but I think we were in the car coming from the latest Avengers movie so really paid no attention to it. Anything under a 5 is not worth talking about unless they are foreshocks.. .

      • It was barely noticeable - that's why I went to the USGS site to see what it was. Didn't know we had to edumacate Slashdot on the Richter/Mercalli scale, particularly the editors who choose what random notes to put on the front page. Still, a magnitude 4.0 is a release of more energy than a MOAB http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G... [wikipedia.org] , so I felt it even though 100km away. Those living in Concord would've felt a little more.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by twosat ( 1414337 )

        We get earthquakes like that all the time in New Zealand. Given that it was 14.6 km (9.0 miles) deep it probably would hardly even be felt unless you were nearly right on top of it. How they are felt depends very much on their depth. After the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 that badly damaged Christchurch, we got www.geonet.org.nz that automatically reports on the location and magnitude of any earthquakes as well as how they are actually felt on the surface. Here's a 5.8 magnitude, 4km deep one from today, 3

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sconeu ( 64226 )

        My definition of 4.0: Who farted?

      • Exactly.

        4.0 to 4.9 -- Noticeable shaking of indoor objects and rattling noises. Felt by most people in the affected area. Slightly felt outside. Generally causes none to minimal damage.

        And a 4.0 is on the lowest end of that scale, almost 10x less powerful than a 4.9. There are over 13,000 4.0-4.9 magnitude earthquakes around the world each year. It's a non-story, except to ask your friend if he felt that. The commuter train passing by my office building causes that much shaking several times a day.

    • A story for those who don't understand orders of magnitude?

      Seriously. I grew up in that area. One day I was standing on a stool that was unstable, it was missing a leg. A 4.0 earthquake hit about 10 miles away and I didn't even feel it on my precarious perch. I'm guessing whoever submitted this story is either not from California, or has never actually been in an earthquake before.

  • A 4.0? That's just a little strong than a freight train going by.

    • Anything rare enough becomes a story.
      The question is: Why is this a story posted on Slashdot? I might get it as a local story, if all they got during the last decade is less than a 3-pointer, but for Slashdot, there should be literally hundreds of such stories every day... would it publish them all?

      • Hey, it's not raining at my house. Moreover, we're going to have dinner in a little while.

        Is Slashdot trying to out-twitter Twitter?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Felinoid ( 16872 )

        Slackware was published in Walnut Creek, California right next door to Concord. (I live in Concord, had a chance to visit Slackware HQ and never did)
        I think after WC CDrom shut down Slackware moved to Concord.
        That may be why it matters.

        Also building code enforcement takes bribes so even a 4.0 might fuck some buildings up.

      • They thought is was a reference to the game Quake 4.0, which was released in 2005. You know, recycling old news. Coming up next - Bennett Haselton pontificating on what this apparent coincidence means for the upcoming release of Quake 5 [wikipedia.org], which will happen when a story about a 5.0 earthquake makes it to the front page.

    • Imagine a line between Redding and Yuma. Anything that happens West of there is "news for nerds" according to Slashdot.

      Now where's the weekly Australia story?

      • You mean the one where they talk about the Prime Minister and his fetish for pulling women's ponytails or the one about KIm Dot com and his endless issues?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by twosat ( 1414337 )

          That was John Key, the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Australia is over 3 hours away by commercial jet plane.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by elvesrus ( 71218 )

        I thought the cutoff was I-5

  • OMG 4.0!!!1 (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Michigan had a bigger earthquake yesterday............. Since when is a 4.0 earthquake in CA news?

  • Hai Guyz (Score:5, Funny)

    by dohzer ( 867770 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @06:10PM (#49607823)

    Hai guys I just saw a bird fly past my window at 2015-05-03 22:32:45 UTC, followed by a moth seven minutes later.

  • Nestle fracking water out of the ground to put in plastic bottles.

  • Seriously? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Malenx ( 1453851 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @06:17PM (#49607847)

    Michigan had a 4.2 earthquake over the weekend and all we posted were memes like http://i.imgur.com/bExOngH.png [imgur.com]. You'd think California of all places would be less surprised.

  • What the... (Score:3)

    by DigitAl56K ( 805623 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @06:21PM (#49607863)

    Jesus, timothy.

    I just took a shit. It was kind of average as far as shits go. Maybe it's front-page material now though?

  • CNN ran a spot on a minor earthquake in Los Angeles several years ago with black-and-white video surveillance of a grocery to demonstrate the severe shaking that took place. Nothing moved. Nothing fell off the shelves. The camera didn't even shake. I guess California moved a hair closer to falling into the Pacific Ocean. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
  • I didnt feel a thing. May have happened while I was driving from Clayton to Pittsburg.

  • BTW, there was a 4.9 in Tomioka, Japan too today.

    (and a 5.2 in New Guniea, but does anyone near SF care? Mind that /.?)

  • There was a 4.2 earthquake in western Michigan yesterday. An earthquake that size isn't news particularly in California. It was barely news in Michigan and they don't get earthquakes that size.

  • Just felt a small vibration in the general area of my stomach, which I confirmed to be a massive turd waiting for departure, followed by a much more violent pressure release 2.7 minutes later on the crapper.

  • Not news (Score:3, Informative)

    by R Samuel Klatchko ( 2882703 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @06:58PM (#49608007)
    According to the USGS Earthquake Facts and Statistics [usgs.gov], there are 13,000 4.0 - 4.9 earthquakes every year (so about 1 every 40 minutes).
  • I lived in Walnut creek - you get those all the time. Like the guy above me said - it is about as news/noteworthy as the rain.

  • Earthquakes around 4.0 or less happen all the time in California, you barely feel them. Less than 24 hours ago Michigan had its strongest earthquake since 1917. And this honestly what Slashdot thinks should be better story to comment on? and the Michigan earthquake is not? Really?

  • There was a 4.2 near Portage, Michigan, where people are not used to earthquakes.

    There were THREE earthquakes in New Hampshire in the last couple weeks, where people are also not used to earthquakes.

    How is this news?

    Another slow news day at Slashdot?

    Get a grip, Timothy. NOT NEWS.

  • Is /. turning into instagram? What is next, pictures of Cmd Taco's lunch?

  • 4.0? That's all? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Walter White ( 1573805 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @07:20PM (#49608113)

    Pfffft! Michigan had a 4.2 yesterday. http://www.detroitnews.com/sto... [detroitnews.com]

  • I really really hope that a much larger quake hits the bay area. It's just about the only thing that could negatively impact the bloodsucking landlords...

  • And Northern California Yawns (Score:4, Informative)

    by Kozar_The_Malignant ( 738483 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @07:42PM (#49608203)
    For those of us who actually live in northern California (where Concord is located), nothing under 5.0 is worthy of notice. Perhaps in Concord, New Hampshire it might be newsworthy.

  • I just had a 3.6 here [geonet.org.nz]. Should I submit a new story for it?

  • A movement of 4.2 used to be called a tremor, until news organizations such as CNN and the Weather Channel got a hold of them and became earthquakes. FLASH. BREAKING NEWS. CUE GRAPHICS. CUE JINGLE followed by 48 hrs of non stop coverage.

    Before that at least one structure had to topple over for a tremor to be called an earthquake.

  • Oh shit (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sootman ( 158191 ) on Sunday May 03, 2015 @09:48PM (#49608661) Homepage Journal

    I take it no one on Slashdot's esteemed editorial team has every lived in an earthquake area? As a former northern CA resident, I'm here to agree with the others that anything less than a 5.0 is not news. Seriously, if I felt a 4.0 at night, I probably wouldn't even mention it to friends the next day. If they're going to start posting about every 4.0 earthquake, I'll have to leave. There are a lot of those. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ear... [usgs.gov]

  • Seriously they happen all day long all up and down the state.
  • The San Andreas and other faults shake all the time. Wake me up when San Francisco falls into the ocean.
  • Are we supposed to report these?

  • Wanaka yesterday, had a Magnatude 6 earthquake. Chile regularly gets magnitude 7 and 8 quakes.

    No news here. Move along.

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