Should Madison be worried about its twin quakes? We ask the experts.
WEWS: James Van Orman, professor of geochemistry and mineral physics at the College of Arts and Sciences, explained how faultlines—fractures in the Earth’s basement rocks, about a mile deep—that seem to be clustered east of Cleveland were created 1 billion years ago and are no cause for concern. “There aren’t trends with things like weather or time of year,” he said. “These are really deep events that don’t have anything to do with what’s happening at the surface.”