Earthquakes in the southeastern United States are hard to come by. In fact, for a long time the southeast US was relatively earthquake-free. In 2011, however, Mineral, Virginia was hit with a magnitude 5.8 quake. The earthquake jolted Washington, DC, and sent ripple effects as far north as Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Scientists are reporting that the reason behind recent quakes has to do with the bottom half of the North American plate
breaking off. These pieces have been breaking off on occasion and falling into the Earth, causing weakening in the remainder of the plate. The weakening makes the plate more prone to slipping, thus causing the earthquakes.
While the southeast is over 1,000 miles away from the nearest edge of the North American Plate (the plate covers all of North America, parts of the Atlantic Ocean, parts of the Artic Ocean, and Greenland), quakes, although rare, can still occur, as they did in 2011 in Virginia.
Does this mean that the east coast should be on the lookout for "the big one?" Not necessarily, but with the minor changes in the North American plate, we may see a noticeable earthquake or two every once in a while.
