The 2003 Alabama earthquake took place on April 29 at 3:59 A.M. Central Daylight Time (local time when the event occurred) eight miles (13 km) east-northeast of

Fort Payne, Alabama Fort Payne is a city in and county seat of DeKalb County, in northeastern Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 14,877. European-American settlers gradually developed the settlement around the former fort. It grew rapi ...

.
Geologic Survey of Alabama; Geologic Hazards Program; Earthquakes in Alabama; Fort Payne Earthquake April 29, 2003 The number of people who felt this quake was exceptionally high as the earthquake could be felt in 11 states across the East Coast and as far north as southern Indiana. The earthquake was strongly felt throughout metropolitan Atlanta. The Georgia Building Authority was called out to inspect the historic Georgia State Capitol in

downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts ( Midtown and Buckhead), it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county, ...

and other state-owned buildings but found no problems. However, this is not out of the ordinary as earthquakes east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

can be felt several times the area felt on West Coast earthquakes. The earthquake was given a magnitude 4.6 on the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pap ...

by the USGS (other sources reported as high a magnitude as 4.9) and reports of the duration of the shaking range from 10 seconds to as long as 45 seconds. It is tied with a 1973 earthquake near

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state ...

as the strongest earthquake ever to occur in the

Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone The Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ), also known as the East Tennessee Seismic Zone and the Southern Appalachian Seismic Zone, is a geographic band stretching from northeastern Alabama to southwestern Virginia that is subject to frequent small ...

, which is the second most active

seismic zone In seismology, a seismic zone or seismic belt is an area of seismicity potentially sharing a common cause. It may also be a region on a map for which a common areal rate of seismicity is assumed for the purpose of calculating probabilistic ground ...

east of the Rocky Mountains, with the

New Madrid Seismic Zone The New Madrid Seismic Zone (), sometimes called the New Madrid Fault Line, is a major seismic zone and a prolific source of intraplate earthquakes (earthquakes within a tectonic plate) in the Southern and Midwestern United States, stretching to ...

the most active. tp://hazards.cr.usgs.gov/maps/sigeqs/20030429/20030429.pdfUSGS Poster; M4.6 Fort Payne, Alabama Earthquake of 29 April 2003 The April 29 earthquake caused moderate damage in northern Alabama including a wide sinkhole northwest of Fort Payne. The quake disrupted the local water supply. There were numerous reports of chimney damage, broken windows, and cracked walls, particularly around the area near Hammondville, Mentone and

Valley Head, Alabama Valley Head is a town in DeKalb County, Alabama, United States. Although the town incorporated in 1921, it was also listed as being incorporated on the 1890 U.S. Census. At the 2020 census, the population was 577. Geography Valley Head is locat ...

. Many 9-1-1 call centers were overloaded with worrisome and panicked residents, who thought it was a train derailment, a bomb, or some other type of explosion that had awakened them. There were several aftershocks, all of magnitude 2.0 or lower, and were not widely felt.

References

External links

Geologic Survey of Alabama; Geologic Hazards Program; Earthquakes in AlabamaCenter for Earthquake Research and Information, University Of Memphis, TN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alabama Earthquake, 2003 2003 earthquakes 2003 natural disasters in the United States

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

2003 in Alabama April 2003 events in the United States

See also

References

External links