Of course, I decided to locate the Wasatch fault because my son was living in Salt Lake City. And I know that the University of Utah where he was going to school is right up there against the Wasatch Mountain Range. I used to never think of Utah as an earthquake state. But I do now.
Usually, earthquake faults run at the base of the mountain ranges, but sometimes they crisscross. Utah is long overdue for one of those ground moving events. So you can imagine my thoughts when I located several faults branching off from the one along the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City — two faults going right next to the location where my son was living in Lassonde Studios. And since he is a film major — the building for most of his classes sits right on a fault.
Lassonde Studios is located where it says The University of Utah
Well, such is life. Maybe he will be visiting us in California where we have earthquakes as well. I remember two quakes while growing up in southern California. And I read the book, Visions of Glory, where Spencer talks about the big quake in Utah and California. I guess this is where I have faith that all our experiences bring us to some great understanding of the Divine and our part in life.
After all, my grandma lived through the San Francisco 1901 earthquake.
But it is good to prepare. Disaster preparedness is always a good idea. And the University of Utah housing requires that all students living on campus have a 3-day emergency kit. They gave us the option to have it delivered to my son’s room — so that’s what I did.
University of Utah Earthquake faults (interactive map)
I just find geology so interesting — how we live on this planet with a very thin crust that floats over molten glass. Now that we have Google Earth, it is easy to get a bird’s eye view of our planet and you can even see the tectonic plates in some places. If you have not done that yet, try it out. It’s pretty cool.
I guess I better check out where my other kids live. One of them is near the Cascadia Fault in the Pacific Northwest — which can cause quakes in the range of 7.0 and higher — and last longer too because its the type where the tectonic plate goes underneath the other plate — a subduction zone. Supposedly if you live west of the I-5 there, you could be “toast.” Well, I’m glad he and his family live east of that freeway.
These are some great graphics about the potential of an earthquake happening in Utah. The article can be found here.
More reports on earthquakes in Utah can be found here.
