Although
most Americans associate earthquakes with Cal-ifornia, the earthquakes
that shook the Mississippi valley in southeast Missouri from December
16, 1811, through February 7, 1812, are among the most violent quakes
ever to hit the North American continent in recorded history. A quake
of equal magnitude would result in great loss of life, estimates show
that depending on the day of the week, time of day, and degree of flooding
that results, fatalities could number over one hundred thousand, injuries
over half a million, and homeless 6.5 million.
YOWUSA.COM, 08-Aug-2004
Dale Caruso
The
New Madrid Fault Line is not a true fault line as we see out on the
west coast. Instead, it reveals itself in the remains of a rift valley,
in the plate basement rock, now covered by younger sediments. “Volcanic
activity weakens the plates and forms rifts in the plates. The New Madrid
Rift, also known as the Reelfoot Rift, formed 500 million years ago.
Existing twenty-five miles below the surface, seismologists consider
it a “failed” rift, because a success-ful one would have eventually
split the plate. Therefore, it is actually a zone of seismic activity.”
(Stewart and Knox 1995) It is invisible on the surface. The fault system
extends 150 miles southward from Cairo, Illinois through New Madrid
and Caruthersville, Missouri, down through Blytheville, Arkansas to
Marked Tree, Arkansas. It dips into Kentucky near Fulton and into Tennessee
near Reel-foot Lake, and extends southeast to Dyersburg, Tennes-see.
It crosses five state lines and crosses the Mississippi River in at
least three places.
Although
most Americans associate earthquakes with Cal-ifornia, the earthquakes
that shook the Mississippi valley in southeast Missouri from December
16, 1811, through February 7, 1812, are among the most violent quakes
ever to hit the North American continent in recorded history. A quake
of equal magnitude would result in great loss of life, estimates show
that depending on the day of the week, time of day, and degree of flooding
that results, fatalities could number over one hundred thousand, injuries
over half a million, and homeless 6.5 million.
The
New Madrid Fault Line is not a true fault line as we see out on the
west coast. Instead, it reveals itself in the remains of a rift valley,
in the plate basement rock, now covered by younger sediments. “Volcanic
activity weakens the plates and forms rifts in the plates. The New Madrid
Rift, also known as the Reelfoot Rift, formed 500 million years ago.
Existing twenty-five miles below the surface, seismologists consider
it a “failed” rift, because a success-ful one would have eventually
split the plate. Therefore, it is actually a zone of seismic activity.”
(Stewart and Knox 1995) It is invisible on the surface. The fault system
extends 150 miles southward from Cairo, Illinois through New Madrid
and Caruthersville, Missouri, down through Blytheville, Arkansas to
Marked Tree, Arkansas. It dips into Kentucky near Fulton and into Tennessee
near Reel-foot Lake, and extends southeast to Dyersburg, Tennes-see.
It crosses five state lines and crosses the Mississippi River in at
least three places.