Data Indicates Our Region Is At Higher Risk For Major Earthquake! Interesting Article...
The USGS (United States Geological Survey) released an interesting article about the New Madrid fault today. If you were not aware, the New Madrid fault is the fault zone in our region that has resulted in some massive earthquakes! In 1811 and 1812, two monster M7.7 earthquakes occurred on the New Madrid fault so the topic of when it goes again has been a huge topic. The USGS just finished some research on the fault line and has the following...
News Release
September 30, 2013
Contacts: Jessica Robertson (703-648-6624, [email protected]) and Fred Pollitz (650-329-4821, [email protected])
Why America's Heartland is Earthquake Country
New research provides insight on why the New Madrid Seismic Zone is unique and may continue to pose a higher earthquake risk than adjacent areas in the central United States.
Using innovative and sophisticated technology, scientists now have high-resolution imagery of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, allowing them to map the area in more detail than ever before. The maps allow for greater understanding of the weak rocks in this zone that are found at further depths in the Earth’s mantle compared to surrounding areas. Scientists also determined that earthquakes and their impacts are likely to be narrowly concentrated in this zone.
U.S. Geological Survey scientists led this research and recently published their findings in the journal, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
A swarm of some of the largest historical earthquakes in the nation occurred in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, in particular three earthquakes greater than magnitude 7 occurred from 1811 to 1812. There have been several smaller, yet still significant, earthquakes in the area since then. This zone extends about 165 miles from Marked Tree, Ark., to Paducah, Ky. and the southern end of the zone is about 35 miles northwest of Memphis, Tenn.
“With the new high-resolution imagery, we can see in greater detail that the New Madrid Seismic Zone is mechanically weaker than surrounding areas and therefore concentrates movement and stress in a narrow area,” said USGS scientist Fred Pollitz, who is the lead author of this research. “The structure beneath this zone is unique when compared to adjacent areas in the central and eastern United States. A more in-depth understanding of such zones of weakness ultimately helps inform decisions such as the adoption of appropriate building codes to protect vulnerable communities, while also providing insight that could be applied to other regions across the world.”
Prior to this research, the New Madrid Seismic Zone has been mapped by the USGS as an area of high seismic hazard, but those assessments were a consequence of a short (about 4,500 years) earthquake record for the area.
This research specifically investigated the Reelfoot Rift area, which is a 500-million-year-old geologic feature that contains the New Madrid Seismic Zone in its northernmost part. Scientists imaged rocks deep beneath Earth’s surface to see their characteristics and understand their mechanical behavior, especially their ability to withstand the huge stresses constantly placed on them.
A surprising finding was that weak rocks underlie the fault lines in the crust of the Reelfoot Rift and extend more than 100 miles down into the mantle. In contrast, weak rocks in other ancient rift zones in the central and eastern United States bottom out at much shallower depths. These weak mantle rocks have low seismic velocity, meaning that they are more susceptible to concentration of tectonic stress and more mobile.
USGS scientists used data from USArray, which is a large network of seismometers that is a component of the EarthScope program of the National Science Foundation. These seismometers provide images of the crust and mantle down to 120 miles (200 kilometers) beneath the surface using the methods employed by these scientists.
“Our results are unexpected and significant because they suggest that large earthquakes remain concentrated within the New Madrid Seismic Zone,” said USGS scientist Walter Mooney, the co-author of the report. “There are still many unknowns about this zone, and future research will aim to understand why the seismic zone is active now, why its earthquake history may be episodic over millions of years, and how often it produces large quakes.”
In the future, USGS scientists plan to map the seismic structure of the entire nation using USArray. This effort started in California in 2004, is focusing on the east coast next, and will then move to Alaska. All of the USArray and other Earthscope efforts will also help inform the USGS National Seismic Hazard Maps.
More Details On The New Madrid Fault
If you didn't know, the New Madrid fault is a major fault line that runs from western KY/ TN through MO / AR. This fault line has been responsible for some monster earthquakes in our region. Here is a look at the area per the USGS...
In the early 1800s, there was a serious of huge earthquakes that occurred along the New Madrid fault causing extensive damage to the region. Purdue University's Eric Calais posted a great image showing a "Shake Map" for the major December 16, 1811 earthquake.
The USGS recounts the series of earthquakes from 1811 - 1812 which are really the legendary earthquakes in modern times for our region. These earthquakes created some incredible events including very rare sand blasts! Here is a look at a historical look at these events per the USGS...
A Sequence of Three Main Shocks in 1811-1812
This sequence of three very large earthquakes is usually referred to as the New Madrid earthquakes, after the Missouri town that was the largest settlement on the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and Natchez, Mississippi. On the basis of the large area of damage (600,000 square kilometers), the widespread area of perceptibility (5,000,000 square kilometers), and the complex physiographic changes that occurred, the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 rank as some of the largest in the United States since its settlement by Europeans. They were by far the largest east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. and Canada. The area of strong shaking associated with these shocks is two to three times as large as that of the 1964 Alaska earthquake and 10 times as large as that of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Because there were no seismographs in North America at that time, and very few people in the New Madrid region, the estimated magnitudes of this series of earthquakes vary considerably and depend on modern researchers' interpretations of journals, newspaper reports, and other accounts of the ground shaking and damage. The magnitudes of the three principal earthquakes of 1811-1812 described below are the preferred values taken from research involved with producing the 2008 USGS National Seismic Hazard Map (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1128/).
A Robust Aftershock Sequence for each Main Shock
The first principal earthquake, M7.7, occurred at about 2:15 am (local time) in northeast Arkansas on December 16, 1811. The second principal shock, M7.5, occurred in Missouri on January 23, 1812, and the third, M7.7, on February 7, 1812, along the Reelfoot fault in Missouri and Tennessee. The earthquake ground shaking was not limited to these principal main shocks, as there is evidence for a fairly robust aftershock sequence. The first and largest aftershock occurred on December 16, 1811 at about 7:15 am. At least three other large aftershocks are inferred from historical accounts on December 16 and 17. These three events are believed to range between M6.0 and 6.5 in size and to be located in Arkansas and Missouri. This would make a total of seven earthquakes of magnitude M6.0-7.7 occurring in the period December 16, 1811 through February 7, 1812. In total, Otto Nuttli reported more than 200 moderate to large aftershocks in the New Madrid region between December 16, 1811, and March 15, 1812: ten of these were greater than about 6.0; about one hundred were between M5.0 and 5.9; and eighty-nine were in the magnitude 4 range. Nuttli also noted that about eighteen hundred earthquakes of about M3.0 to 4.0 during the same period.
Large Area of Damaging Shaking
The first earthquake of December 16, 1811 caused only slight damage to man-made structures, mainly because of the sparse population in the epicentral area. The extent of the area that experienced damaging earth motion, which produced Modified Mercalli Intensity greater than or equal to VII, is estimated to be 600,000 square kilometers. However, shaking strong enough to alarm the general population (intensity greater than or equal to V) occurred over an area of 2.5 million square kilometers.
Shaking Caused Sand Blows, River Bank Failures, Landslides, and Sunken Land
The earthquakes caused the ground to rise and fall - bending the trees until their branches intertwined and opening deep cracks in the ground. Deep seated landslides occurred along the steeper bluffs and hillslides; large areas of land were uplifted permanently; and still larger areas sank and were covered with water that erupted through fissures or craterlets. Huge waves on the Mississippi River overwhelmed many boats and washed others high onto the shore. High banks caved and collapsed into the river; sand bars and points of islands gave way; whole islands disappeared. Surface fault rupturing from these earthquakes has not been detected and was not reported, however. The region most seriously affected was characterized by raised or sunken lands, fissures, sinks, sand blows, and large landslides that covered an area of 78,000 - 129,000 square kilometers, extending from Cairo, Illinois, to Memphis, Tennessee, and from Crowley's Ridge in northeastern Arkansas to Chickasaw Bluffs, Tennessee. Only one life was lost in falling buildings at New Madrid, but chimneys were toppled and log cabins were thrown down as far distant as Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, and in many places in Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee.
A notable area of subsidence that formed during the February 7, 1812, earthquake is Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee, just east of Tiptonville dome on the downdropped side of the Reelfoot scarp. Subsidence there ranged from 1.5 to 6 meters, although larger amounts were reported.
Other areas subsided by as much as 5 meters, although 1.5 to 2.5 meters was more common. Lake St. Francis, in eastern Arkansas, which was formed by subsidence during both prehistoric and the 1811-1812 earthquakes, is 64 kilometers long by 1 kilometer wide. Coal and sand were ejected from fissures in the swamp land adjacent to the St. Francis River, and the water level is reported to have risen there by 8 to 9 meters.
Large waves (seiches) were generated on the Mississippi River by seismically-induced ground motions deforming the riverbed. Local uplifts of the ground and water waves moving upstream gave the illusion that the river was flowing upstream. Ponds of water also were agitated noticeably.
Surface Deformation--Evidence for Pre-Historic Earthquakes
The Lake County uplift, about 50 kilometers long and 23 kilometers wide, stands above the surrounding Mississippi River Valley by as much as 10 meters in parts of southwest Kentucky, southeast Missouri, and northwest Tennessee. The uplift apparently resulted from vertical movement along several, ancient, subsurface faults. Most of the uplift occurred during prehistoric earthquakes. A strong correlation exists between modern seismicity and the uplift, indicating that stresses that produced the uplift may still exist today. Within the Lake County uplift, Tiptonville dome, which is about 14 kilometers in width and 11 kilometers in length, shows the largest upwarping and the highest topographic relief. It is bounded on the east by 3-m high Reelfoot scarp. Although most of Tiptonville dome formed between 200 and 2,000 years ago, additional uplifting deformed the northwest and southeast parts of the dome during the earthquakes of 1811-1812.
1811, December 16, 08:15 UTC Northeast Arkansas - the first main shock
2:15 am local time
Magnitude ~7.7
This powerful earthquake was felt widely over the entire eastern United States. People were awakened by the shaking in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Charleston, South Carolina. Perceptible ground shaking was in the range of one to three minutes depending upon the observers location. The ground motions were described as most alarming and frightening in places like Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky. Reports also describe houses and other structures being severely shaken with many chimneys knocked down. In the epicentral area the ground surface was described as in great convulsion with sand and water ejected tens of feet into the air (liquefaction).
1811, December 16, 13:15 UTC Northeast Arkansas - the "Dawn" Aftershock
7:15 am local time
Magnitude ~7.0
A large event felt on the East Coast that is sometimes regarded as the fourth principal earthquake of the 1811-1812 sequence. The event is described as "severe" at New Bourbon, Missouri, and was described by boatman John Bradbury, who was moored to a small island south of New Madrid, as "terrible, but not equal to the first". Hough believes that this large aftershock occurred around dawn in the New Madrid region near the surface projection of the Reelfoot fault.
1812, January 23, 15:15 UTC, New Madrid, Missouri
9:15 am local time,
Magnitude ~7.5
The second principal shock of the 1811-1812 sequence. It is difficult to assign intensities to the principal shocks that occurred after 1811 because many of the published accounts describe the cumulative effects of all the earthquakes and because the Ohio River was iced over, so there was little river traffic and fewer human observers. Using the December 16 earthquake as a standard, however, there is a general consensus that this earthquake was the smallest of the three principals. The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.
1812, February 7, 09:45 UTC, New Madrid, Missouri
3:45 am local time,
Magnitude ~7.7
The third principal earthquake of the 1811-1812 series. Several destructive shocks occurred on February 7, the last of which equaled or surpassed the magnitude of any previous event. The town of New Madrid was destroyed. At St. Louis, many houses were damaged severely and their chimneys were thrown down. The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.
It really gets your attention when you read that the New Madrid fault zone still remains a region at risk for large earthquakes.
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My GGGGG Grandfather, his wife and son were on a flat bottom boat at New Madrid Bend when the first quake on December 16th, 1811 occurred. They were moored with a flotilla of boats sleeping under tents and blankets when the quake produced a 20ft wave. William Strong the son said that because he arrived late at the mooring site was on the outside of the flotilla and did a poor job of tying to the adjoining boat his boat wasn't swamped and was able to ride the wave. He thought it was the end of the world.
Posted by: Charles Lokey | 11/16/2013 at 09:26 PM
I believe the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 were the result of a meteor impact to northern Mississippi and that the original 'crease' in the plate was formed approx. 12,900 years ago when the Moon impacted the Mediterranean:
http://koolkreations.wix.com/kalopins-legacy "A Few Comments on 1811". See this discussion: "Mediterranean, Appalachian, Pangaea Lunar Impact" @ archaeologica.org ['New World' section]
PLEASE give it study! :-]
Posted by: Kalopin | 01/17/2014 at 06:19 PM
Good piece thumb up
Posted by: lisa | 06/20/2017 at 02:51 AM
thank you for sharing
Posted by: Geospatial &Space Technology | 11/20/2017 at 08:16 AM
good one
Posted by: Geospatial &Space Technology | 01/25/2018 at 02:53 AM