North American Craton on the move (ie. opening up)?

[Skyfarmr]

Back in March, 2012 when there was a big stir about the earthquakes in Clintonville, WI (USA) I checked into the geology of the area and learned about the North American craton, a failed rift which runs through that area. Tucked it away as interesting, but then, recently there's been another story from that area in the news. The Leo Frigo Bridge, a very tall expansion bridge on I43 crossing the Fox River where it empties into Green Bay (Lake Michigan) has been closed due to sagging.

The first sign of trouble was call made just before 5 a.m. Wednesday[Sept. 25th, 2013] from a motorist reporting a dip in the pavement in the eastbound lanes of the road.

Green Bay police closed the highway and began detouring traffic by 5:30, Rudat said. Police Lt. Karl Ackermann of the department’s Traffic Division said he had not heard of motorists expressing concerns about the road before the 4:51 a.m. call.

Work crews completed work on the bridge earlier this year as part of a nearly $17 million project to improve 3.5 miles of of Interstate 43, including the bridge. The project included resurfacing the span, replacing bridge joints, repainting steel support girders, installing traffic cameras at multiple locations near the bridge, and adding access-control gates at the ramps to get on I-43.

The bridge is inspected every two years and last year the inspection reported this:

Small “fine vertical cracks” were found during a visual inspection of the Leo Frigo in August 2012, but officials said that they constitute normal wear and tear on a bridge that opened in 1980.

link for picturs and more details:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20130925/GPG0101/309250360/Leo-Frigo-bridge-closed-quite-some-time-due-sagging-support-pier

Seems these cracks may have been an indication that something was beginning to move underneath pier 22 at least a year ago. You'd think that a $17 million renovation project would have noticed this had it been a gradual settling, but this sagging was a sudden occurence first noticed on the morning commute of Sept 25, 2013.

Now recall the headlines of the Clintonville earthquakes (40 miles west of Green Bay) which first began happening in March of 2012.
http://www.sott.net/article/243520-Clintonville-residents-shaken-once-again-by-mysterious-booms
http://www.sott.net/article/243135-Unexplained-Noises-Shake-Clintonville-Homes
http://www.sott.net/article/243277-Strange-Sounds-in-Clintonville-WI-Spread-to-Montello
http://www.sott.net/article/243206-Strange-noise-Unexplained-booms-continue-through-the-night-in-Clintonville-authorities-stumped


While checking out similar stories I came across a comment by a guy who thinks the North American Craton is on the move again, something i sort of suspected after the Clintonville earthquakes, but forgot about until the Leo Frigo bridge closing.
He writes:

I think I found the culprit. Look at the “Cutaway to the Craton by googling a picture.
Throughout much of the central United States, younger sedimentary rocks conceal the craton. But in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota — as well as throughout much of Canada — it is well-exposed.

If you notice in the picture, the failed North American Craton rift runs right through Wisconsin and right through the town of Clintonville. IMHO it is most likely starting to crack in sections under Clintonville, Wisconsin explaining the sounds these folks are hearing. They say the sound is coming from underneath their feet and not too far down. Well if you read above, in that area of Clintonville, the craton is well exposed and not very deep.

This must be the cause of these mysterious booms and shake. The North American Craton has been showing signs of movement in recent years.
Is The North American Craton moving again? There is evidence to suggest it has come to life.

[link to www.mnh.si.edu] Choose multimedia version, Then choose Plate Tectonics and Volcanoes, then choose The Ancient Continent. Go through the steps there you see the rift and Craton is right under Wisconsin and particularly Clintonville,WI.

If you notice the shape of the North American Craton, you can see that it borders states that have had an increase in seismic activity. Like VA, CO, TX, AR etc…

1.1 Billion Years Ago – A Near Rift

North America narrowly escaped a fate that has befallen other continents: splitting apart, or rifting. About 1.1 billion years ago, from what is now Kansas to the shores of Lake Superior, the craton began to split. Had this rifting continued, North America would have become two continents separated by a new ocean basin. But after 20 million years, the rifting ceased. The failed rift is 2,000-km (1,200-mi) long. Huge volumes of basaltic magma welled up, creating a stack of igneous rocks 25-km (15.5-mi) thick. Their strong magnetic signals enabled scientists to determine the extent of the rift.

Has this rifting woken up? That is the question here and from these reports it is my opinion that it probably has. Big changes are coming.

The North American Craton is on the move again. That area of Wisconsin is right on top of the failed RIFT. That. is going to sink onto itself when that rift decides to open up, which in this case appears to be doing so. These sounds are the 1st indicators of such.

Link: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-22/wisconsin-mystery-booms-seismologists/53699024/1


http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/text/4_1_3_1.html

AFter doing some searching found other stories:
October 2010
http://www.woodtv.com/news/local/upper-peninsula/600-ft-long-crack-shows-up-in-the-u-p-

Eileen Heider said she was sitting in her home watching television when her chair started vibrating. Neighbors said they heard something that resembled a bang, and one said it sounded like blasting, the Daily Press of Escanaba reported.

"Right now we have posted signs indicating the fissure is on private property, because we don't want anyone to get hurt by falling into it," Heider said.

The crevice, or fissure, may be the result of fractured rock deep beneath other rock layers, said Rory Mattson, executive

He said the phenomenon is not unusual in the Upper Peninsula. He said his assessment was based on information from others and that he hadn't visited the site himself.

This story was also discussed here on the forum, which has sort of an "opening up" theme: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,18045.msg199608.html#msg199608 which includes this link:
http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2010/october/story31847.htm

October 11, 2010—
....That shaking and loud noise experienced recently in Menominee County of Upper Michigan was indeed an earthquake, albeit a small one, according to a Michigan Tech researcher.

There's also this C transmission regarding the opening up due to slowing of the Earth's rotation;
https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,28561.0.html July 22, 2012

Q: (L) What about these sinkholes? I mean, sinkholes everywhere! This is getting to be really bizarre. I have never heard of so many sinkholes in my entire life happening all over the planet. I mean, sinkholes are kind of common in Florida, but... What the heck is going on?

A: We mentioned an infinitesimal slowing of the planet's rotation causing everything to "open up"?!

Q: (L) Yes, you did.

Could this whole "opening up" be occurring where this "failed rift" stalled a billion years ago?
Keeping eyes and ears open on my backyard... in a global sense.

Note to moderators: please move if you find a better place to include this topic.

 

[Beau]

Indeed, the bridge being closed due to sagging has caused quite a stir in the Green Bay area. Here's a few pictures of the bridge where the sag occurs:

Close-up:

When I first caught wind of this via family and friend's FB, I commented that it looked like something underneath the ground had shifted which caused the bridge to sag, so I think your theory has merit.

 

[Gawan]

Don't know if you listened to yesterdays Sott Talk Radio Show, there they mentioned at about 01:53 that these strange sounds could also come from earthquakes as I understood it and thought that this may apply to your theory here. Eventually there more incidents aling this rift with strange sounds and eventually sink holes too?

 

[SeekinTruth]

Wow! Those pictures are incredible! It certainly looks like something underneath has shifted.

 

[Leòmhann]

Skyfarmr, thank you for sharing...a new topic to me, one that I've not yet come upon until your post...Heimdallr, those pictures are also really helpful...thank you, folks...Gawan, yes, earthquake activity seems also to be contributing to the spectrum of strange sounds (thank you for adding that)...makes me wonder if Ben Davidson of Suspicious0bservers (_http://www.youtube.com/suspicious0bservers / _http://www.suspicious0bservers.org/) is aware of this and is keeping an eye open for what is going on in this part of North America...

 

[Cosmos]

It looks to me like the column that support this part of the bridge has sagged down quite a bit...

 

[Jacques]

Indeed, the bridge being closed due to sagging has caused quite a stir in the Green Bay area. Here's a few pictures of the bridge where the sag occurs:


When I first caught wind of this via family and friend's FB, I commented that it looked like something underneath the ground had shifted which caused the bridge to sag, so I think your theory has merit.

You can see a video at that link: _http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2013/09/26/erin-dnt-rowlands-wisconsin-bridge-sag.cnn.html

 

[MakeEmTalk]

Thanks for the thread Skyfarmr.

The rift extends pretty close to my neck of the woods, so good to be aware of this.