I still have the songs from Interlochen’s production of "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" bouncing around in my head. One number, "I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet," seems especially fitting because about a year ago, Earth did move — right under Lake Michigan.
On August 2, 2024, a 2.9 magnitude earthquake was detected near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. It wasn’t dramatic, only about 50 people reported feeling it. But it had geologists puzzled. This part of the Great Lakes isn’t known for fault lines, at least not as far as we currently understand.
Still, that doesn’t mean that Earth is ever truly still.
The late Professor Francis Hole, a renowned soil scientist from the University of Wisconsin, once quipped, “It shouldn’t be called terra firma at all. Iit should be called 'terra vibrata!'”
Because under our feet, the Earth is always in motion.
Soil particles — grains of sand, silt, and clay — shift constantly. Some move with the wind or wash away in the rain. Some are nudged by roots pushing through the soil or by burrowing creatures beneath the surface. Even the seasonal freeze-thaw cycles can cause what scientists refer to as mechanical displacement.
Raindrop impact alone can scatter soil grains. The force of moving water or strong gusts of wind can loosen and lift particles into motion. And of course, human activity plays its part.
The land beneath us is always changing. Quietly, persistently, and with far more movement than we might imagine.
Most of us didn’t feel the Earth move under our feet that day last August. And thankfully, the sky didn’t come tumbling down either.
