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Small earthquake in Blackpool

Aitch

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Story in the Independent concerning a small earthquake (a 1.5) in BlackpoolWP.

T'would appear to have been caused by fracking. Which is apparently now banned in a few places because of its side-effects.
 
Is a 1.5 really an Earthquake?

I mean really, we get worse than that every year in Melbourne, and we only have a minor fault line 50 km south of the city.

ETA: Seems it's not quite so minor: the fault running along the South Coast has raised the Otways 250 metres in the last couple of million years, and they reckon we've had 6 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater in the last 100,000 years.

http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/news/358/
http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/volcmap.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Educa...005/04/15/1113509921667.html?from=moreStories
 
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Damien Evans said:
Is a 1.5 really an Earthquake?
Click to expand...
I was going to make that point as well, and liken it to being only slightly more intense than a fat person tripping and falling down. But I couldn't think of any famous Brit fatties. Maybe Fergie before she went to Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers or whatever.
 
Since it's Blackpool, I think the punchline is supposed to be: "... and did £X Million worth of civic improvement."
 
Didaktylos said:
Since it's Blackpool, I think the punchline is supposed to be: "... and did £X Million worth of civic improvement."
Click to expand...

The News Quiz panel beat you too it.

I think Have I got News for You went for the "£20 of damage" option.

Typical London based humourists. ;)
 
According to the Richter scale calculator at http://www.convertalot.com/earthquake_power__calculator.html, a 1.5 magnitude quake is equivalent to 5.4 pounds (2.5 kg) of TNT equivalent. I think frakking a well could easily generate that sort of energy under the right circumstances. Being up close to the compressors used to create the pressures needed shakes the ground that much.
 
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