Talk:Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone

Latest comment: 8 months ago by SilverXnoise in topic This article contains contradictory information

This article contains contradictory information edit

I have noticed a few minor issues with this article, one with seemingly contradictory statements, and the other is less critical but could be improved. First, the contradictions:

Under the heading Earthquake Magnitude, the following statement is made (emphasis mine):

 
    A few damaging earthquakes have occurred in the ETSZ; the largest historic
earthquakes measured 4.6 magnitude
, occurring in 1973 near Knoxville, Tennessee
and April 29, 2003 near Fort Payne, Alabama.

Shortly after this, under Seismic Events, there are multiple examples of higher magnitude earthquakes are listed:

 
   - Irondale, Alabama, earthquake, October 18, 1916 (magnitude 5.1)
   - August 9, 2020 earthquake south of Sparta, NC (magnitude 5.1 with small aftershocks)
 

The other is perhaps just a matter of style, but I find the first statement above to be a bit ambiguous, and believe it would be clearer to use alternative wording. My suggestion would be something like this (the specifics may need to be updated given the issue cite above.):

 
   Damaging earthquakes are rare, but have occurred in the ETSZ; the two largest recorded earthquakes occurred in 1973 near Knoxville, Tennessee, and April 29, 2003 near Fort Payne, Alabama, with both measured at a magnitude of 4.6.
 

I believe the following contributors were involved with the portions I referenced:

  • @Civilengtiger (original author)
  • @Aidan721
  • @98.230.156.87
  • ___
    I'm not an experienced Wikipedia editor, nor am I qualified to speak authoritatively about geological events, so I do not want to make any edits to this unilaterally. If this is not the appropriate place and method to raise such an issue, I would appreciate any corrections and/or guidance for future reference. Thanks to everyone who contributed! SilverXnoise (talk) 01:43, 28 July 2023 (UTC)Reply