11/12/2002: Quake crack

This from the Earth Science Pic of the Day. These are a couple of geologists studying the 7.9 quake that hit Alaska last week.

Its funny cos I took "Earth Science" when I was in 10th grade, and the teacher was trying to explain exactly how earthquakes work. I can clearly remember his words:

"Everybody thinks that in an earthquake the ground forms these big cracks, so big that people could fall into them. That's not how it works."

Really, Mr. Shadel?

That's amazing. Nature has some incredible power. I wonder how rare an occurance that is though.

What's good about today's image is that it finally pushes the "Horses with bad legs" image link far down enough on the page that I can avoid reading it everytime I visit now. *shudder*

I was following KTUU-TV from Anchorage and the Anchorage Daily News just after the earthquakes. It caused a real mess out in those rural parts. IIRC, they had a photo of a semi that had slipped into one of the holes in the highway...or did I see that here? Shit...I don't remember.

It's interesting that there are mountains in the background, as they were likely also formed by earthquakes, with the tectonic plates coming together instead of seperating like they did this time.