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Southwest Michigan AMS/NWA
April 17, 2018
Schuler Book Store
2660 28th St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
President Brandon Hoving called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. All five board members were present. A total of 15 people attended the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, Brandon informed everyone he will not be running for a board position again when the next elections are held, probably at the end of May. He has been the president of our club since its inception 8 years ago and has been very much responsible for its success. He will be missed. More details about the election will be coming soon but if any club member is willing to serve on the board please let Warren Wheeler, Linda Page, William Marino or myself know in the next couple of weeks.
Treasurer William Marino has updated our financial records that show we have a cash balance of $1,208.76 in our checking and savings accounts. We now have 21 paid members for this year, which is our second highest total since the club was founded. We have 88 people on our mailing list.
Our speaker for the evening was Dr. Kazuya Fujita from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Michigan State University. Dr. Fujita is the son of noted tornado researcher Dr. Ted Fujita but has specialized in the study of earthquakes and not weather.
While earthquakes in Michigan are not common and are usually caused from such things as explosions, the two minor events that occurred in 2015 prove that natural earthquakes do occur. Recent research by Dr. Fujita and others has shown there is a fault line that runs from roughly South Haven to Coldwater. An earthquake felt widely across southern Michigan in 1947 centered near Coldwater was associated with this fault line.
Fracking can apparently induce earthquakes, however these are usually quite minor, although if they occur, they can occur in swarms. In 2014, the state of Oklahoma reported more earthquakes than California, but they were all of minor magnitude. It is interesting to note that although there are a number of deep wastewater injection wells in northern Lower Michigan, there have been no earthquakes reported there.
Dr. Fujita does not believe there will be a reliable method of forecasting earthquakes developed in the near future.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted
Craig James Woods
Secretary
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