A 5.2 earthquake occurred on July 27, 1980 near Sharpsburg in Bath County some 30 miles northeast of Lexington. This earthquake is believed to have originated along a buried ancient fault zone from an unmapped area of geologic stress and was, therefore, a geologic surprise. This quake caused $3 million in damages, mostly in Maysville, Kentucky, not Sharpsburg at the epicenter. In Maysville 269 homes and 37 businesses were damaged. We lived in Cynthiana at the time and our brick house shook for several minutes but did not suffer any damage. Scared the heck out of me and my family.
The responsible fault begins at the eastern edge of the Blue Grass Region, the Kentucky River Fault System runs East-Northeast toward the Morehead/ Ashland areas and into West Virginia. This fault system runs beneath the Clays Ferry Bridge at the 99-mile marker on I-75 at the Madison- Fayette County line, and is part of a larger fault system. The southern band of the Kentucky River Fault System is the Paint Creek Fault, which runs through Hazard and further south.
5 comments:
Are there any pictures available online of some of the damage?
I could not find any. As I recall chimneys fell off buildings, windows were broken, foundations cracked, etc
I was just thinking about the tremor we felt in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1980. Back then we shrugged it off. However, I am wondering if the tremors were a result of the Kentucky earthquake.
What do you THINK??
I was attending the University of Cincinnati during the Maysville earthquake. Our apartment was about 10 miles east of downtown and we felt it. It lasted 10 or 15 seconds, I looked out the window and saw telephone wires swaying. I believe it occurred on a Sunday afternoon, I heard that it knocked some bricks off a couple buildings downtown.
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