We here in California have recently been experiencing a series of earthquakes. Today we had another one, and boy did I feel it. Actually, we have been experiencing quakes all along the Pacific Coast as of late. Better to let off some steam in quantities that we all can handle as opposed to one big quake that could cause major destruction. Since I live near the coast, Tuesday night was especially frightening when a Tsunami Alert was sounded out over the regular television programming where I live in Southern California due to an earthquake off the coast of Crescent City in Northern California. In the early 90's I had the opportunity to live for about a year and a half at an old Hot Springs resort. The resort was closed to the public at the time, so those of us who lived there pretty much had the run of the place. I remember that while living there California again was experiencing a series of quakes over a period of a couple of weeks. During that time, we noticed that the hot springs were unusually active right before a quake. Even if the quake occurred a hundred or more miles away, there was noticeable increased activity in the springs. At times when there was no earthquake activity going on, these springs generally flowed through the cement enclosures, and they would gurgle, and pop and make noises naturally. Different smells from the natural gases and minerals being emitted would come in spurts. But during the increased quake activity, you could always observe major increases in the springs activity. I think you can use these natural springs as a way to predict possible quake activity. I'd love to hear from anybody else out there with similar observations. Copyright 2005 Sherry Sims |
