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Geography fun facts and oddities: Difference between revisions
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== Geography oddities == | == Geography oddities == | ||
=== Earthquakes === | |||
* '''2011 Virginia earthquake''' | |||
[[File:East vs West Coast Earthquakes USGS.jpg|right|200px|thumb|This map shows that East Coast earthquakes travel much farther than West Coast earthquakes of similar magnitude (wiki)]] | |||
** this 5.8 magnitude earthquake, centered in Louisa County, Virginia, was felt as frar as New England, Canada, Michigan and Alabama and Florida | |||
** the reason the tremors were so widely felt is that the U.S. East Coast has extensive bedrock that transmits shock waves across extensive distances, whereas less geologically stable areas do not transmit shock waves as far. | |||
* See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake Virginia earthquake, 2011 (wiki)]] | |||
=== Rocks === | === Rocks === | ||
* '''Three Sisters''' or '''Three Sisters Islands''' (Washington, DC) | * '''Three Sisters''' or '''Three Sisters Islands''' (Washington, DC) | ||
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*** a Native American legend of its origin is that young girls where chased by bears, and their prayers for salvation were answered by the "Great Spirit" by lifting the rock they sat upon into the air, out of reach from the bears, whose claws scratched marks into the sides of the rock while trying to reach them. | *** a Native American legend of its origin is that young girls where chased by bears, and their prayers for salvation were answered by the "Great Spirit" by lifting the rock they sat upon into the air, out of reach from the bears, whose claws scratched marks into the sides of the rock while trying to reach them. | ||
* See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Tower Devil's Tower (wiki)]] | * See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Tower Devil's Tower (wiki)]] | ||
=== Sinkholes === | === Sinkholes === | ||