Likely cause for recent southeast US earthquakes: Underside of the North American Plate peeling off
Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - 14:00
in Earth & Climate
The southeastern United States should, by all means, be relatively quiet in terms of seismic activity. It's located in the interior of the North American Plate, far away from plate boundaries where earthquakes usually occur. But the area has seen some notable seismic events -- most recently, the 2011 magnitude-5.8 earthquake near Mineral, Virginia that shook the nation's capital.