Something Bizarre Happened to Water in Florida After the Alaska Earthquake
(ANTIMEDIA) — Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, a powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Gulf of Alaska, prompting a series of tsunami alerts along the west coast of North America that convinced some residents in low-lying areas to seek higher ground.
Fortunately, the warnings were canceled within hours, and no serious property damage or injuries were reported. Residents appear to have endured more than 60 aftershocks born of the quake just fine, as well.
However, that doesn’t mean the effects went unnoticed. In fact, they were felt in some interesting places. From the Miami Herald on Wednesday:
“When a 7.9 magnitude earthquake jolted Alaskans out of bed on Tuesday, guess where else it was felt? Florida.
“Within an hour after the quake hit at 4:32 a.m. eastern time, groundwater 3,500 miles away in Fort Lauderdale dropped by an inch and a half. Up the coast in the state’s Big Bend, it rose two inches in wells monitored in Madison, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.”
As strange as that sounds, such happenings aren’t all that uncommon. Seismic waves, it turns out, often travel through the earth following quakes, affecting groundwater systems in a variety of different ways.
In Alaska in 1962, for instance, an 8.5 magnitude earthquake caused water level changes in over 700 wells across the United States. In 1998, a 5.2 magnitude quake struck Pennsylvania, rendering about 120 wells dry for three months.
“Think of it as the ripples in a glass of water on a table when a truck drives by outside,” the USGS said in a statement addressing the effects the Alaska quake had on Florida.
As for the fluctuation itself, this time around it was a case of “blink and you’ll miss it.” The water in the affected wells returned to pre-earthquake levels within minutes.
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