[dragnet2]

I know, but this was only a 6 range...Not sure what the New Madrid was.

[jboot]

New Madrid is estimated at between 7.2 and 8.1. There is an order of magnitude of difference between those estimates, but the truth is that no one is quite sure. There were no seismographs then.

5.8-5.9 is not inconsiderable. Fortunately the epicenter was in sparsely-populated farmland. Had it been beneath a densly populated area we might be getting casualty reports.

[gleeaikin]

For history buffs New Madrid was not one quake. A series of quakes started in the fall of 1811 and ended in the Spring of 1812. There were 3 monsters in the 8 range and many noticeable ones in the 6s and 7s. Chimneys fell in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tremors were felt on the east coast. Reelfoot Lake in Tenn. was formed in a grabben fault when a long sliver of land dropped 20 or 30 feet. Waves of sandy soil could be seen undulating 5 or 6 feet high and whole forests fell over. Areas of the Mississippi river ran backwards. The first steamboat trip was being run down the Mississippi when that happened and it was felt that the power proved its value.

Oh, and during that period a very strong earthquake occurred in Venezuela and killed 10 to 20 thousand people in Caracas. People have worried about what could happen in St. Louis if New Madrid let loose. That fault seems to have a 500 year cycle if I remember correctly.