So where are the earthquake fault lines on the East Coast of the United States?  

Maps of the affected area in Virginia can be viewed here.  Seismic activity in Virginia is shown on the maps.  

Click on the picture to view the Quake Summary Poster in PDF form.  Picture poster supplied by USGS.gov.

Tectonic Summary from Virginia August 23, 2011 Earthquake.

The Virginia earthquake of 2011 August 23 occurred as reverse faulting on a north or northeast-striking plane within a previously recognized seismic zone, the "Central Virginia Seismic Zone." The Central Virginia Seismic Zone has produced small and moderate earthquakes since at least the 18th century. The previous largest historical shock from the Central Virginia Seismic Zone occurred in 1875. The 1875 shock occurred before the invention of effective seismographs, but the felt area of the shock suggests that it had a magnitude of about 4.8. The 1875 earthquake shook bricks from chimneys, broke plaster and windows, and overturned furniture at several locations. A magnitude 4.5 earthquake on 2003, December 9, also produced minor damage.

Previous seismicity in the Central Virginia Seismic Zone has not been causally associated with mapped geologic faults. Previous, smaller, instrumentally recorded earthquakes from the Central Virginia Seismic Zone have had shallow focal depths (average depth about 8 km). They have had diverse focal mechanisms and have occurred over an area with length and width of about 120 km, rather than being aligned in a pattern that might suggest that they occurred on a single causative fault. Individual earthquakes within the Central Virginia Seismic Zone occur as the result of slip on faults that are much smaller than the overall dimensions of the zone. The dimensions of the individual fault that produced the 2011 August 23 earthquake will not be known until longer-term studies are done, but other earthquakes of similar magnitude typically involve slippage along fault segments that are 5 - 15 km long.

Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S., although less frequent than in the western U.S., are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).

The Strong Watchman

WHERE ARE THE FAULT LINES IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES.

Original article at: MSNBC.com

For 30 years geologists have been puzzled by a remarkably straight magnetic line that runs between New York and Alabama along the Appalachians.

A more recent aerial magnetic survey of the Alabama end of the line suggests that it's probably a 500-million-year-old San Andreas-style fault that appears to have slipped 137 miles to the right in the distant past.

If so, it's no surprise that the most dangerous part of the eastern Tennessee seismic zone is right next to part of this magnetic line and has the second-highest earthquake frequency in the eastern United States.

"It's most likely a strike-slip fault," said Mark Steltenpohl of the University of Alabama at Auburn. “But it's all buried.”

The fault is invisible from the surface and there is very little information about it because no one has actually drilled down through it to investigate, Steltenpohl told Discovery News.

That would, in fact, be pretty hard to do, since the fault zone is very narrow and it would be hard to find with a drill using just magnetic maps to set up a drill rig.

“It's almost a needle in a haystack,” said Steltenpohl.

Both steep and deep 
The New York-Alabama Lineament, as geologists call it, was first revealed by aerial magnetic mapping in 1978. Since then people have looked at smaller sections of it to try and understand it, with little success. Seismic surveys across the feature indicated it is very steep and runs very deep.

“It's been sort of enigmatic,” said U.S. Geological Survey geologist Wright Horton, a co-author with Steltenpohl on a paper in the June issue of the journal Geology about the fault.

The key to seeing it as a strike-slip fault is detecting features that are cut off by the fault and offset. Those sorts of offsets were finally found in maps from a 2002 aerial magnetic survey of the Alabama part of the lineament, said Horton.

“Once we got the south end of it pinned down, the rest of it fell into place,” Horton said.

Likely not active 
The fact that the fault has not cut through the layers of earth above it and shown itself on the Earth's present surface suggests it's not active and so people can probably rest easy.

However, the fault and fractures related to it — like the probably similarly-ancient faults of eastern Tennessee — are not incapable of quakes. In fact they are perfect places for stresses in the crust to be released, so long as they are weakened by water, explained geophysicist John Costain of Virginia Tech.

“If the lineament is there, then you're sure to get earthquakes more than otherwise,” said Costain.

That's because faults, however ancient can serve as conduits for water that weakens fault zones and can cause regional stresses in the crust to be relieved as an earthquake.

This is, in fact, the likely secret to how all big and small mid-continent quakes can happen, so far from the more active and obvious zones where tectonic plates are smashing together, he explained.

“The crust is full of fluids and looking for an excuse to break,” said Costain.

The New York-Alabama Lineament is one more place where that can happen.