I have opened up some extensive real time seismic monitoring in Wisconsin- For the rumbles

reply to post by TrueAmerican

I've got a disabled cousin in Wisconsin so I'm concerned. I do not follow this thread very well. I have been trying to read up on what may be stinking the place up with sulfur and all my very uneducated mind comes up with is they might have magma moving around there deep underground. I'm especially worried about that because of that strange fissure in Michigan. But I do not know enough about volcanoes to know what the warning signs are that a volcano is forming on flat stable ground. All the info I find just talks about existing cones awakening. I'd be very happy if it was just old caves collapsing. Would that account for the stink? My other concern is a deep break in a gas main. I would think they would be able to identify that right away but after that explosion in California, I don't know.

Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
I do not follow this thread very well.

Well that's because there isn't a whole lot to follow. The USGS said earthquake, so I said alright, and went into extensive monitoring with a pretty capable program. I checked what they said was a microquake, and I disagree. I checked what they said was a microquake swarm, and I disagree. Still waiting for an earthquake. No earthquake. No seismic problem. Something else. Like a cave or mine collapsing. Makes logical sense.

I "checked graphs now" too. I pulled the helicorder data for the last day, went over with spectro, and still, NO EARTHQUAKES.

Now unless there are some very rare signatures being generated from extremely shallow quakes, where only frequencies above 5 Hz propagate for miles and miles, there are still, no earthquakes. In my lowly, overly alarmist, non professional, fearmongering opinion.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Thank your for replying TrueAmerican. I've been waiting to hear back from my cousin to see if she's experienced anything in her neck of the woods but she hasn't gotten back to me yet, I think she's visiting other relatives near her.

Well it is the badger state. Maybe the badgers got a bit overzealous with their tunneling this year!

The sounds in Clintonville are continuing:

Stronger Booms Heard in Clintonville

Clintonville police say they received about 65 calls Tuesday night, from people reporting three or four loud booms. Officials say the calls came in from 10:35 until 11:40 p.m.

Several callers told police that these booms were stronger than those from last week, but no damage has been reported.

So, these sounds are reportedly stronger than last week but no reported earthquakes (yet) this time?

reply to post by CINY8


I like how these "earth quakes" only occur at night ...

ATS Thread ...

reply to post by MegaMind


It is interesting that they are primarily hearing these sounds at night. From what people in Clintonville are saying is that these noises are loud enough that they sounds like cars crashing fireworks, trains or explosions.

For people commenting that they are heard only at night because the sounds are being drowned out by everyday noises, I think I would still hear and be concerned about something as loud as they are claiming to be. If the sounds were easily drowned out that easily by daytime noises and if there was a man-made cause then they would be operating during the day instead I would think.

If it is something going on in the earth and not man-made, maybe it is at night because of temperature variations.

I guess one would start listing what is different night vs. day. Day- more water being used. Day- background noise not noticed as much. Night- moon is visible.... gravity???

All I know is I do not buy the report that a 1.5 earthquake cause 3 nights of "booms".

TA where are you???

Well where do you think I am, AuntB? Combing over heliplots with spectro!

And I may have some news.

I have identified what appear to indeed be several small microquakes, received at station TA.H42A, and these occurred between 9:30 PM and 10:15 PM, 3/27/12, Central Standard Time. I guess the people go through them, listening and feeling them intently, and then wait a bit longer to see if they subside. When they subside, I guess everyone jumps on the phone at once and calls the police. This would explain the calls at 10:30 PM or so.

Looks like I may have to change my tune. Maybe we DO have some microquakes in Clintonville. The low frequency content is there. But what's really strange, is usually, very low frequencies are the ones that propagate the furthest with typical earthquakes. In very rare cases however, with extremely shallow quakes under a Km in depth, it is possible that lower frequencies below 3 Hz do not propagate like usual.

In fact, I have just experienced this in my monitoring of the Iliamna volcano. I attribute this to lack of resonance in frequencies below 3 Hz. A super shallow quake, very near the surface, may not be able to generate power at those super low frequencies. Whereas a deeper quake, even just slightly deeper, does excite those frequencies.

Also, in this case, with these events I have identified, they appear to be just SLIGHTLY more powerful than the previous microquakes. And I only say that because they are registering at H42A a bit better. Which means they have propagated slightly further, implying that the source event had slightly more juice. And even so, I still cannot find corroboration at other stations close by.

Wow, what a strange case indeed!

But one thing is for sure, imo- that whatever they are, they are very, VERY shallow.

Also, some more thoughts I am having about this, and I sent this to my contact- so now I am waiting for an answer to see if they agree:

Extremely shallow microquakes don't appear to propagate low end (0-3 Hz) the way we are used to with regular, deeper quakes. And it kind of makes sense. At deeper depths, where there is much more crust pressure, it takes a bigger event to excite frequencies that low. At a very shallow depth of say less than a Km, the pressures are less, and a small quake may not be able to have the power to excite those super low frequencies in the crust, which may explain the signatures. But these do have some low end content in the 2-3 Hz region, briefly. When the waves from these hit a certain point deeper in the crust, they are probably stopped dead in their tracks. While the higher frequencies can continue to propagate in a small radius from hypocenter. To me this presents a rational explanation of why we see what we do in these microquakes.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


In your opinion, could these be explosions of some kind? It has been said that perhaps they are mining sand. Why they would be doing this so late at night I wouldn't even begin to guess but, I was wondering if you could rule this option out.

I know Puterman responded to Olivine (I think) in the earthquake thread about the signature looking like a sonic boom, is there a natural phenomenon that would cause a sonic boom?

Hope you are enjoying that new toy of yours. Glad to know we have your eyes watching out for us.

Thank you combing the charts for us. Don't know what we would do without you! Very, very shallow quakes. Can drought cause these micro-quakes? I can accept micro-quakes but the booming.... Westcoast heard a boom before a quake in Washington, so noise does happen. But it seems that the booms are causing the micro-quakes.

Also what about un-named fault lines? Am I way off in left field??

reply to post by AuntB


No, you are perhaps right on the money, AuntB- well sort of. I replied to you in that other thread, look for it. Could be unknown extensions of that fault.

Update: I got a reply back from the almighty one, and they said, and I quote:

I think your explanation makes sense.

Woot! I actually made sense! To a scientist!

*dances for joy*
*breaks out the champagne*
*takes one stiff drink*

Ok, better now! (and no I don't drink...at ALL)

Doodle: There is another post around here saying that often companies will blast at night, for various reasons. So yes, that is possible.

reply to post by TrueAmerican



You say they are very very shallow ...

Is it possible they are something other than EQs that are causing the booms and showing up on seismographs as something very shallow?

They say it is a EQ swarm but could it be something else that could be misread as a EQ swarm?

a foo fighters concert showed up on seismographs in the land of Oz ...

reply to post by MegaMind


Once events are that shallow, in the absence of a volcanic cone, then yes, there are all kinds of things that it could be. But earthquakes exhibit some particular characteristics with both compressional and shear waves, that scientists using special software can identify. While the set of tools I am using is nice, it does not contain the necessaries for inverting waves back to epicenter, determining azimuth, and thus being able to determine the depth. So I cannot answer the question specifically.

In time, surely more information will come out, as scientists are able to put more study time into all the data. Clintonville needs to be patient, as do we, and give these people time for better explanations. For all we know it could be some rogue miners with some dynamite, collapsing some underground mines or caves. Not all mine blasts require permits. And some do blast at night. They seem to be occurring mostly at night, and that is highly suggestive of man made activity. But it is also possible that due to the extremely low amplitude, some events could be happening during the day, and getting lost in other signatures, which may actualy be higher in amplitude, and closer to station.

It's a tough one, no doubt about it.

Maybe mines that don't yet have permits blasting at night? But then you would think they would have stopped. And I thought I read that there were no mines in the area. This article from March 7th states that there are many new sand mines awaiting permit, though. Maybe the frack boom has people working overtime..

Kennan Wood, executive director of the Wisconsin Mining Association, says there are about 60 frack sand mines currently operating in Wisconsin and 40 more in the process of gaining permits.

“Sand mining is having a big impact on the state, especially in the rural areas. These mines encompass [anywhere from] three- to four-man small operations to big industrial mines that extract a million or more tons annually,” Kennan told Environment & Climate News.

Wisconsin DNR

Also, an afterthought, and completely just speculation/conspiratorial theory, but perhaps they are working on a new mine and don't want residents to know because of how much opposition the expansion of the sand mine industry has gotten there over the last year. I'm not saying they went into blasting with the intention of keeping a secret, but maybe they didn't expect anyone to notice the sounds.

Now that people have noticed the sounds, maybe they would rather people think it's earthquakes than get more public attention on the mining controversy there. Especially since this went national. If it's connected to the yellow water, sulfur smell, and dead fish, they would have even more reason to keep quiet. I mean that's a pretty substantial increase in mines, adding 40 to 60. If they are responsible for the water and fish, I would imagine they are scrambling to hide it from environmental groups.

They also requested DNR regulate silica as a toxic air pollutant. The petition was very sophisticated, clearly having required environmental experts and lawyers to draft, said Manley.

“I realized then that frack sand mines were up against very strong opposition. The DNR denied the petition last month, but I just learned today [Feb. 27] that the group is now asking the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a national ambient air quality standard for silica,” Manley reported.

Anti-natural gas groups are continuing their campaign at the state level, too. “There is land use legislation currently in the Wisconsin legislature [to impose new restrictions].

There is also a rare butterfly on the Endangered Species List that the environmentalists are using to try and shut down frack sand mining operations. In addition, there have been a series of moratoriums enacted by several local governments to prohibit frack sand mining,” said Manley.

I really didn't realize how much was going on against the mines.

I was doing some research on the midcontinent rift when I came across this website. I am not saying that this is the cause and it still may not be man-made but this may deserve some more looking into. This site offers public awareness about potential mining activities around the Great Lakes regions. Apparently there has been potential mining for Uranium and Sulfide even though the effects could be devastating for the regions where this would take place, which is why bills to allow this to happen have not been passed.

Take a look at the maps on the site, one of them is specifically targeting the midcontinent rift area in Wisconsin. Another area is the Menominee County, Michigan....where the mysterious crack appeared back in 2010.

Again, this is just a guess and I don't know anything about mining or what processes are involved...just thought I would add this information.

Proposed Mining Maps

Volcanoes do appear on flat land.
Remember the on in Mexico?
Parícutin, "The Corn Field Volcano"

www.robinsonlibrary.com...

Originally posted by OhZone
Volcanoes do appear on flat land.
Remember the on in Mexico?
Parícutin, "The Corn Field Volcano"

www.robinsonlibrary.com...

That is most excellent! Thanks for the link.

And from the actual site of Paricutin volcano:

Farmers in the field witnessed the ground crack open in one thunderous rumbling, and out of this newly opened fissure came the strong smell of rotten eggs. But it wasn't rotten eggs, but sulphur from beneath the earth's crust which was rising to the surface.

Thick grey smoke began rising out of the opening in the ground, the farmers felt the heat rising along with it and saw that the smoke was actually filled with ash. They knew this wasn't just an earthquake, but the beginning of a volcanic eruption. Everybody fled the cornfield, my father included.

www.paricutin.com...

So why not be my more "absolutely out there" self for at least a minute, and just wonder:

Could all the sulfur being smelled around the midwest, along with the cracks in Michigan, and all these events around WI foretell the coming of a massive supervolcano to arise right from under our feet and astound the world (not to mention the destruction...) ? Maybe Yellowstone's been piping all that magma east, WAY deep underground?

Right. Shutting it once again... Already came back to reality. Nah...

reply to post by TrueAmerican


But, but - is something like this far fetched? IMHO - no - why = we are in the area of the lost/new plate. What happens on plate boundaries = Volcanoes. Is the New Madrid Fault not just a Fault but Plate? or formation of new plate as we have discussed before? if so, we would have to expect volcanism. Look at the Great Lakes - much more going on in the land formation = (Robin has a very solid theroy - IMHO) Yellowstone Hot Spot - well, that is a grasp but it is in line in about how many millions of years? but - ya just neva know whata happen next these days....

reply to post by CINY8


In reply to your 'PROPOSED MINING MAPS', -- WELL WORTH READING,, CAN BE FOUND THE FOLLOWING,
savethewildup.org...

We recently saw a River that suddenly became a Red colour, and a few years back one Australian company - then mining for Gold - Polluted one large lake in Vienna with Cynaide.