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When nature goes haywire in Texas, it isn't usually an earthshaking event. Though droughts, floods, tornadoes, and hail all keep Texans talking about the unpredictable weather, when it comes to earthquakes, most of us think we're on terra firma in this state. But we're wrong! Nearly every year, earthquakes large enough to be felt by the public occur somewhere in Texas. This entertaining, yet authoritative book covers "all you really need to know" about earthquakes in general and in Texas specifically. The authors explain how earthquakes are caused by natural forces or human activities, how they're measured, how they can be predicted, and how citizens and governments should prepare for them. They also thoroughly discuss earthquakes in Texas, looking at the occurrences and assessing the risks region by region and comparing the amount of seismic activity in Texas to other parts of the country and the world. The book concludes with a compendium of over one hundred recorded earthquakes in Texas from 1811 to 2000 that briefly describes the location, timing, and effects of each event.
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TEXAS EARTHQUAKES
Number Two Peter T. Flawn Series in Natural Resource Management and Conservation The publication of this book was assisted by a University Cooperative Society Subvention Grant awarded by the University of Texas at Austin.
TEXAS EARTHQUAKES C L I F F F RO H L I C H A N D S C OT T D . D AV I S
Locations of earthquakes that have occurred in Texas or that were felt by Texas residents; numbers denote year of occurrence. Source: Data are from recent compilations of the authors, augmented by information from Davis, Pennington, and Carlson (1989).
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS AUSTIN
The Peter T. Flawn Series in Natural Resource Management and Conservation is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by gifts from the following donors: Jenkins Garrett Edward H. Harte Houston H. Harte Jess T. Hay Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson Bryce and Jonelle Jordan Ben F. and Margaret Love Wales H. and Abbie Madden Sue Brandt McBee Charles Miller Beth R. Morian James L. and Nancy H. Powell Tom B. Rhodes Louise Saxon Edwin R. and Molly Sharpe Larry E. and Louann Temple
Copyright © 2002 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2002 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819.
The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI /NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Frohlich, Cliff, 1947– Texas earthquakes ⁄ Cliff Frohlich and Scott D. Davis. p. cm. — (Peter T. Flawn series in natural resource management and conservation ; no. 2) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-292-72550-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-292-72551-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Earthquakes— Texas. 2. Earthquakes— Texas— History— Chronology. I. Davis, Scott D. II. Title. III. Series. QE535.2.U6 F76 2002 551.2209764 — dc21 2002004972
Table of Contents List of Figures, vi List of Tables, viii Preface, ix chapter 1 M E A S U R I NG E A RT H Q UA K E S , 1 chapter 2 E A RT H Q UA K E S I N T E X A S , 1 7 chapter 3 E A RT H Q UA K E S I N T H E U N I T E D STAT E S , 4 0 chapter 4 E A RT H Q UA K E S I N T H E WO R L D A N D OU T O F T H I S WO R L D , 5 2 chapter 5 C AU S E S O F E A RT H Q UA K E S , 6 5 chapter 6 P R E D I C T I NG E A RT H Q UA K E S , 8 2 chapter 7 S H OU L D I WO R RY A B OU T E A RT H Q UA K E S ? , 9 5 chapter 8 W H O A R E S E I S M O L O G I ST S A N D W H AT D O T H E Y R E A L LY D O ? , 1 0 3 chapter 9 A NEW COMPENDIUM OF E A RT H Q UA K E AC T I V I T Y I N T E X A S , 1 1 2 References, 257 Index, 269