Safest place to live in North Amereica

[Special Ed]

Maximan, my brother, ( or, since I am old enough to be your father, I should say “Maximan my son,”) I call upon your knowledge as a geologist to answer the following question.
The History Channel recently ran a program on “Doomsday Scenarios.” I hate to report that of all the possibilities, ( gamma ray burst, asteroid strike, mega volcano/ tsunami, ) the #1 was… GLOBAL WARMING! Agh-h-h-h-h-h!!! Be that as it may, where is the safest place to live , geologically speaking, in North America, in the event of a “Mega Disaster?”
E.Liberty

[Crazcnuk]

You always have to remember, though, that the greater accepted scientific community also jailed people for saying the earth was round, orbited the sun and that there were no dragons off the edge of the map!

[mro]

geologically speaking

Lateral variations in seismic wave speeds have been documented in all major layers of the Earth external to its core, with horizontal scale lengths ranging from 10 to 10$^{4}$ km. These variations can be described in terms of three types of heterogeneity: compositional, aeolotropic, and thermobaric. All three types are represented in the lithosphere, but the properties of the deeper inhomogeneities remain hypothetical. It is argued that sublithospheric continental root structures are likely to involve compositional as well as thermobaric heterogeneities. The high-velocity anomalies characteristic of subduction zones-seismic evidence for detached and sinking thermal boundary layers-in some areas appear to extend below the seismicity cutoff and into the lower mantle or mesosphere. Mass exchange between the upper and lower mantles is implied, but the magnitude of the flux relative to the total mass flux involved in plate circulations is as yet unknown. Other observations, such as the vertical travel time anomalies seen in the western Pacific, may yield additional constraints on the flow geometries, but further documentation is necessary. Thermobaric heterogeneities associated with a thermal boundary layer at the base of the mantle could provide the explanation for some of the observations of heterogeneities in the deep mantle. The evidence for very small scale inhomogeneities (<50 km) in region D$^{\prime \prime}$ and for topography on the core-mantle interface motivate the speculation that there is a chemical boundary layer at this interface, as well as a thermal one.

So...sometime before the sun becomes a cold rock the earh should become stable


mro

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Ed,

I'm no geologist, so let's just rationalize here!

Anywhere near the coastline is out due to low elevation=tsunami hazard.

The east also has a prominent fault line albeit lesser known but no lesser dangerous=New Madrid; the west has San Andreas amongst others. Yellowstone is the MegaVolcano hazard. The south is also fairly low elevation=flood hazard, the Mississippi valley region, as well as hurricanes.

So....I would think the middle north region with decent elevation would be one of the safest. JMHO!
T.C.

[Hammerhead1st]

Re: geologically speaking

Originally posted by mro
... The evidence for very small scale inhomogeneities (<50 km) in region D$^{\prime \prime}$ and for topography on the core-mantle interface motivate the speculation that there is a chemical boundary layer at this interface, as well as a thermal one.

So...sometime before the sun becomes a cold rock the earh should become stable


mro

MAN! I was JUST about to say that!!!

[mro]

originally posted by TC
so let's just rationalize here!

All things considered for Liberty's question, thought my answer was the correct one for such a rational question.
Did not mention tho...even after the sun becomes a cold rock there will still be the odd asteroid or wandering black hole, maybe a rift in the space/time continuum or as in that song (25-25) God or the Administrator may decide to start everything over agin.


mro
can see headlines now (local paper "somewhere SafeVille"
Man found dead holding child proof bottle of pills that would have saved his life

If I happen to still live here when "the big one" hits. Most likely will survive the quake, but not sure how long I could hold out against the neighbors in the aftermath

[JWSanders]

I'm pretty happy here just on the top of the TN valley. No seas or oceans, a relatively stable geological area, no mountains to crumble around me, and it's just north enough to not get the worst of the southern heat waves when the equitorial zone expands and takes up half the planet.

Just think, when the oceans overflow, and half the world goes underwater, I may end up with a large bay where the TN valley used to be. Almost beachfront property!!

Most likely will survive the quake, but not sure how long I could hold out against the neighbors in the aftermath

Ah, but that's what large supplies of weapons are for. Gotta be ready when the SHTF.

[Pat Kelly]

I wonder if anyone in Pangia ever asked this question?

[mro]

I wonder if anyone in Pangia ever asked this question?

Naw...But I think there waiting for the continents to meet up on the other side


mro

[Crazcnuk]

There was an X-files episode many years ago that covered this very question.


There was a paranoid doomsdayer who did all the research and concluded someplace in Idaho was the safest to be....

I think I am doing pretty good, here in Hinton. No way for the river to flood to the point where it would reach town, back far enough from the mountains that they can't fall on us. Reasonably geologically stable, and wee away from any of the missile paths.

Oh, and we're just north and east of Idaho!

[81xsproject]

Just remember that we still have a date with a large, incoming, space-rock that the odds for impact have gotten greater with every new announcement. I think it is 2029 and if it doesn't get pulled in by the Earth's gravity, will pass between us and the moon.

[EZMoney]

Western Canada,
no terrorists, no earth quakes, no bad storms, no floods, lots of open spaces, enough said.

[Stralya]

The best place to live in North America is....

AUSTRALIA... the biggest chunk of Pangea still existing!

[olebiker]

Guess I will stay where I am. Unless I move

[SiP]

Western Canadian prairies!
1. The entire rocky mountain range to the west.
2. 2,500 miles of prairie to the east
3. The entire US to the South.
4. Nearly as much land mass to the north as well.

Beautiful, farmable, protected. Except of course for a hit by the big rock thingy!
Bring on the apocalypse.