posted February 18, 2013 02:47 AM            

Sinkholes. Apparently there's been enough aging infrastructure in the city that wasn't resolved that large sinkholes are beginning to show up in the city. One even became famous as a Foursquare check-in! (Super Sinkhole Walter it's known as).

Now recently we had a nearby town suddenly have a sinkhole as well. Flooded a church's elevator shaft (cancelling services), and was enough to get a house condemned. I think there was like a water main break but still...

And another city nearby, Palmyra, has been infamous for sinkholes for years. The general region seems to be a karst topography.

What makes me nervous about this is the fact I don't know how far the Ramapo Fault Line runs, and whether or not it runs through Harrisburg or not. It might stop around Lebanon, maybe little before that, or it might continue on (in which case it's very close to my backyard).

My point is: Is anyone else noticing an increase in sinkholes in their general areas; are those sinkholes related to aging infrastructure; are those sinkholes showing up in areas that may have faultlines running nearby that are regarded as inactive.

I suppose if a megaquake were about to happen, we'd see more stuff happening than just this. I've just been getting a strange feeling about the Ramapo Fault (to be honest, it runs from about New York (near Indian Point Nuclear Plant), through New Jersey largely, and through Pennsylvania near Philadelphia/Reading, and maps I've seen put the west terminus anywhere from as far east as Lebanon to as far west as "we don't know" (and possibly near or under my town).

I'd rather live in California and take a 5.5, personally. At least they reinforce against that there. Over here, structures and infrastructure is not prepared for it because, well, quakes not all that common here plus all the fiscal mismanagement that happens.

posted February 18, 2013 05:14 PM            

I am reminded of how Ohio had the tremors and eventually put the moratorium on injection disposal wells (which if I'm not mistaken were "lubricating" unmapped fault lines there). Since the moratorium I think tremors have stopped or slowed down considerably.

What also concerns me is once the marcellus shale is fracked out, there's always the Utica shale underneath, which is far deeper (and would be far closer to any actual fault lines if they exist.

I am reminded of a line from Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring... "Moria... You fear to go into those mines. The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame."

You know, I do wonder about something else... they shoot all those chemicals and water down under the earth to fracture and harvest the gas... ...but what happens after so much shale is disrupted? Aren't we essentially replacing stable rock and carbon formations with unstable water/gas/sediment? Isn't that eventually going to have an impact even if there are no fault lines to lubricate or influence?

And then there's the metaphysical aspect of this which is only a theory of mine... where did all the living matter come from to make these vast shale deposits? Was it made during one of the mass extinction events Earth has gone through in the past? If so, how long would the psionic imprint last from all of the living things at that time? Would that still be imprinted on the shale after millions of years still? ...which makes me wonder about a lot of fossil fuels now that I think of it. I could be wrong about the mass extinction impact on current shale formations and oil deposits though... and then we get to the realm of the planet's influence on riches buried deep for so long as well. And when it comes to ley lines in the area, I can only speculate that there's disruption there too. In fact, I'd love to know if there's been any increase in reports of paranormal activity in that neck of the woods where there's more fracking...

I don't think we know enough about what we're dealing with to go into this full-tilt (regarding fracking). Personally, I think Pennsylvania's being poisoned by this. If not from the chemicals and spills into the water and possibly the aquifers, then from the toxic social debate that this has spawned (regarding the lesser taxation on extraction in this state, who actually gets the fracking jobs (Pennsylvanians vs Texans/Oklahomans/etc), environmental concerns, etc.). Plus the lower prices of natural gas from the glut of the resource right now makes me wonder even from a market standpoint how wise this is right now.

posted February 19, 2013 11:20 PM            

Small quake (2.3) hits Williamsport

There has been an increase in fracking around there, but not injection wastewater wells as far as I know (and it's the injection wells, not the fracking, that seem to incur the wrath of tremors).