Earthquake!

Since you're on our website, you probably already read that there was an earthquake this morning down around Orangeburg in the low country. The quake was a 3.6 magnitude which is a long way from being tiny, but is also a far cry from devastating. It turns out these smaller earthquakes are actually quite common in the lowcountry due to the wet and sandy soil in that region. The technical term for this area of unstable soil in the low country is quaternary liquefaction. Basically, that's when soil with very high water content behaves like a liquid making the ground above very unstable.

These small quakes actually happen anywhere from 10 to 30 times a year according to some information I was reading from College of Charleston seismologist Steven Jaume.

Of course, the biggest earthquake ever recorded on the eastern seaboard happened in Charleston back in 1886 and killed about 100 people. If that same quake were to happen now, that number would be in the 1000s for sure. To find out more on the Charleston quake of 1886 and what causes earthquakes in South Carolina, check out the links below:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/south_carolina/history.php

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/qfaults/eusa/char.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_earthquake

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