Four (Small) Earthquakes Last Week Near Memphis, TN

US Earthquake Map, USGS ^ | 01/09/2008 | Robert A Cook

[Robert A Cook PE]

Perhaps these small, easily ignored earthquakes should remind us that it was only 200 years ago that the largest earthquake in the US struck in this same region. They are clustered in a straight line between Paducah, KY; Memphis, TN; and Cape Girardeau, MO - Very close to the New Madrid quake of 1811-1812.

More info:

http://hsv.com/genlintr/newmadrd/

http://quake.usgs.gov/prepare/factsheets/NewMadrid/

It's dismissed almost casually in most of today's "history" books as an "inactive" fault, or as an earthquake not occurring in a fault zone at all, but as we see exaggerated environmental scares every day (every hour ?) we should realize that real (uncontrollable) dangers exist even in Mid-America.

[sticker]

One of the few things Tiger High does right:

http://www.ceri.memphis.edu/

[billhilly]

“People settle in Earthquake, Flood, Tornado, Hurricane and Blizzard prone areas and then blame the government because a natural catastrophe strikes them? Stupidity reigns!”

Stupidity must have caused me to have been born less than 20 miles from New Madrid. It most certainly caused those poor people who were displaced by Reelfoot Lake in 1811/1812 to regret their choice of a place to have been born.

[A Strict Constructionist]

Hush, logic is not acceptable in some replies.

[Prospero]

I live 11 miles from the Mississippi River just a little north of Memphis. I grew up in L.A. I take earth wakes very seriously.

You might as well be living in Northridge, my friend. The changes in the course of the Mississippi are more than just climate and storm related. (Take a look at a map.) They are almost definitely New Madrid Quake Zone related.

As many others on this thread have pointed out, the evidence is strong that New Madrid activity is cyclical, and that we are due for a period of increased activity. I live on the Hurricane Coast, and you get pretty tuned into the barometric pressure around here. And for people living pretty much where you are, it's not a matter of if but when.

[TXnMA]

"That area is always active."

That is probably a good thing. Small quakes tend to release the stress on a fault zone gradually -- instead of letting it continue to build up for one big quake event.

[Robert A Cook PE]

There are many hundred small quakes up and down the St Lawrence River every year. But, unlike New Madrid, people don’t talk about that fault zone since it has (so far) only small quakes.

[wardaddy]

I experienced some New Madrid tremors back in 1976 between New Albany MS and Memphis.

Rattled some stuff off the 7-11 shelves

first I knew of it

the old quake 200 years ago was a doozy

and mud rolls.....i guess the flooding is a big fear........aside from structure buckling

[Stonewall Jackson]

Damage Zones:

VI. Felt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight.

VII. Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken.

VIII. Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments, walls. Heavy furniture overturned.

IX. Damage considerable in specially designed structures; well-designed frame structures thrown out of plumb. Damage great in substantial buildings, with partial collapse. Buildings shifted off foundations.

Here's a chart comparing the damage zones from an earthquake on the New Madrid and one in Southern California.

I live right in the middle of the Zone VII area of Kentucky.

[Young Werther]

I take earth wakes very seriously.

There was a SciFi story where the New Madrid quake occurs at the same time that the Eastern Rockies upthrust line "slumps". The entire Plains States from Texas to South Dakota disappears under a new Inland Sea! This sea existed millions of years ago and right here in Dallas there are fossil remains of gigantic prehistoric fish at the Science Museum. They swam in the sea back then and they could come again!

In the SciFi story the benefits abound. North Dakota seaside Beach front property booms. Aquaculture replaces agriculture!

Don't remember the title oo author of story. Any help out there?

[Coldwater Creek]

Well, that should help me to sleep soundly!!!!!

[pepperdog]

I live in central Oklahoma and I don't want to be under an inland sea, thank you very much. Here it’s tornadoes and, as was demonstrated last month, an occassional really bad ice storm. And then we have our range fires and rivers flood. Truthfully I don’t believe there is anywhere one can live without danger from Mother Nature. I do know one thing though: no matter what happens my homeowner’s insurance doesn’t have to pay!

[Travis McGee]

Something that few people grasp is how much wider the zone of destruction would be after a New Madrid quake, compared to a typical California quake, due to the underlying geology. This image is very eye opening.

[girlangler]

I was going to ping you on this one, see you are already here.

Stay safe from those tornados in your area.

[Travis McGee]

NOLA would be a sideshow in comparison.

[Travis McGee]

The first hand accounts of the NM quake are apocolyptic. BIrds going crazy, the earth rolling in waves, fissures and cracks swallowing people, large trees split from bottom up by cracks, “earthquake lightning,” some really really crazy stuff.

Imagine if Memphis was flattened, adn the inner city survivors blamed “the man” for building bad housing for them, “to get them killed.”

Then, no food or water for weeks. Anger, racial hatred, fear and starvation would be a lethal mix, socially. It would make Katrina look like a day in the park.

[Travis McGee]

A fictional New Madrid quake is part of my new book. Research has really been eye-opening.

[Moonman62]

Because of the real and tangible threat, every household in that area should have at least a couple of weeks emergency rations/gear stowed away.

They should, but there is some reason to believe that New Madrid won't produce another major quake, and the smaller quakes today are aftershocks from the last major quake. Sensors indicate that the ground isn't moving, and there is no evidence of major earthquakes beyond a thousand or so years ago.

Sometimes major earthquakes pop up in unexpected places like what happened in Charleston in the 1800's. They are rare but one never knows.

[mass55th]

Was fat man Al Gore in Memphis last week?

[Travis McGee]

C35. Just imagine inner city Memphis survivors pouring out into the countryside looking for food, and not exactly in a cheerful mood.

[nomorelurker]

The inland sea story you are asking about I think was published in Analog magazine about 15-20 years ago. Sorry do recall title or author. Was an interesting bit of speculative fiction. I remember it because my hometown of Paris Tx. winds up being a major port. Some of the mountains in Arkansas and SE Oklahoma wind being a nice island chain.

The last bit of the story acknowledges the huge loss of life etc. but goes on to say the inland sea was much better than the great plains because of transportation and aquaculture