The New Madrid Fault is very scary!
I’m sure you have all heard about the Illinois earthquake that happened this morning. I’ve been noticing that the news hasn’t spent much time on it. At first they were reporting that it was along the New Madrid Fault. Then they started saying, ‘NAW, its not a big deal, don’t worry about it,’ and downplaying that the New Madrid Fault might have had anything to do with it.
That’s because we are little commoners in Middle America who might get upset if we hear something scary and start clinging to our Bibles and guns because we have nothing else to cling to. They have to protect us from that sort of thing, ya know!
I have found out that the reason the New Madrid Fault if being downplayed is that it is a very scary fault. I had no idea. Y’all are probably a little like me. I don’t think of earthquakes in relation to Middle America. I think earthquakes are the curse of California because we all know how California is (wink, wink). I’m just kidding. Some of my best friends are in California so I know there ARE a few good people there. But that IS where we think of earthquakes happening so we don’t really worry about them much. Its THEIR problem, not ours.
As it turns out, the New Madrid Fault is actually more dangerous than the San Andreas Fault. Who knew? A friend of mine has explained the whole thing and she’s something of an expert on it.
Here are some facts that may or may not have you clinging to your Bibles and guns by the end of this post.
There are different seismic zones. The San Andreas fault is a fault because it is a place where two tectonic plates slide against each other. An earthquake occurs when the two tectonic plates get stuck against each other and then unstuck. The ‘unsticking’ part is when you have the earthquake. Then there’s the New Madrid Fault. Its set up differently than the San Andreas fault. It is more like a series of scars and mini-faults rather than two big ol’ faults that are rubbing against each other.
About One hundred gazillion years ago the North American plate tried to break apart two different times. Those periods of activity led to rifts and scarring of the plate. There is a main rift which is roughly along the Mississippi River. Its as active as a plate or plate fault would be expected to be. Along the rifts a lot of sediment piles up. When things start moving around in this seismic zone, the sediment energy from the movement and ripples along the fault. Its similar to the way water moves when it ripples only this is land. Or you can imagine the vibrations from a big gong that vibrates … and vibrates … and vibrates.
This vibrating along multiple rifts means that it doesn’t produce a big snap followed by tremors like the San Andreas fault does. Instead, the New Madrid fault produces a more rolling quake that has the possibility of lasting longer and doing damage further away from the epicenter. The Great San Francisco quake was an 8.0 earthquake on the Richter scale. It was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles. It was on the San Andreas Fault. The last quake in the main fault of The New Madrid Fault was in 1812. It was a 7.9 on the Richter scale and was felt from New Orleans, houses were destroyed in St. Louis (150 miles away) and sidewalks broke up in Washington D.C.
When we think of earthquakes we think they happen on the San Andreas fault. There are a lot there and when they happen they are big. In Middle America we rarely think of earthquakes even though there are thousands. Its just that they usually happen in the smaller faults and not in the main part of the New Madrid Fault. They are usually too small to feel or if we do feel it we think its a fluke of some kind and go on about our business.
A larger quake, like what happened today apparently is of some concern to seismologists as it indicates that the main New Madrid Fault might have been involved in the quake and that is not a good thing. A quake in the main fault of the New Madrid Fault would be like nothing we’ve seen since …. since 1812 obviously. For those of you not real sharp on history, that was before we had a lot of big cities, or even towns, between New Orleans and Chicago. We are a lot more densely populated now and there’s a lot more buildings along that fault.
In recent years scientists have been theorizing that the New Madrid Fault was pretty much dead or dying and was no longer the threat it once was. Todays earthquake shook that theory up a bit. It turns out that its probably not quite as dormant as the seismologist wanted everyone to think - or hoped it was. I have this image of seismologist running around like little mice testing the ground and doing whatever it is they do to try to figure out where this quake was located and praying every step of the way that it wasn’t in the main New Madrid Fault.
That is why the news is downplaying that possibility to the public because its really a pretty frightening possibility and most of us prefer blissful ignorance. I know I do as a general rule.
Have a great weekend with THAT in mind!!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Yeah, I live in St. Louis now, right on the NM fault. The last time this thing really went off, it changed the course of the Mississippi river. We’ve been waiting for “the big one” for years around here.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Illinois Earthquake…
There was an earthquake in Illinois this morning! About 5:30 a.m. this morning people in Illinois and throughout the Midwest were awakened by a 5.2 earthquake, the largest ever for that area.
The earthquake was in Southeastern Illinois but rattled skys…
April 18th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Bryan! You know what, I had read that and meant to include it in the post. As I recall, it sent the Mississippi running in the opposite direction and eventually it ended up changing course altogether.
That’s really pretty scary stuff. :yikes:
Have a great weekend!!! I’ll be thinking of you
April 18th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Beth, I grew up in Ohio and was well aware of the New Madrid fault. Stories were oftern told of when the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers flowed backward and the Great Mississippi shifted course in several places devouring whole towns (such as they were in 1812).
If you know what to look for, you can see sand churned up in channels along plowed fields in Tennessee, Illionois and Missouri, especially from the air - I have seen it - scary indeed.
Worse yet, the several earthquakes that occurred when I lived there were not from the New Madrid Fault, but from previously un-discovered faults.
One earthquake pulled the basement stairs over 6″ from the wall and another lasted for several minutes, waking me up. One, centered in Maysville, KY heavily damaged some buildings.
Yes, it is a scary fault, and when it moves, it is BAD. Usually it doesn’t move. I suspect it will turn out not to be a New Madrid quake. When New Madrid moves, all that pent-up energy really lets loose.
There are a lot more people along the fault now - the center is close to St. Louis - and a huge debate occurred when the stadium was built in St. Louis. It was decided NOT to earthquake-proof the stadium - a decision played out in cities all around the region - which is why the BIG ONE will be so bad, when it does occur.
The 1980 Maysville 5.1 earthquake is found here: ttp://www.ohiodnr.com/geosurvey/gen/seismic/sum1_81/tabid/7894/Default.aspx
“The earthquake that shook Ohio and all or portions of 13 other states and southern Canada on July 27, 1980, initiated numerous media and citizen inquiries concerning this particular earthquake and the general seismicity of Ohio. … Maysville, Kentucky, located about 30 miles northeast of the epicenter, was particularly hard hit. Media reports issued a week after the tremor indicated damages of more than $1 million in Maysville; 59 homes and 27 businesses sustained major damage and 210 homes and 10 businesses sustained minor damage. Few property owners carried earthquake insurance. The Ohio communities of Manchester, Aberdeen, Ripley, and West Union reported various degrees of damage. In Aberdeen several chimneys were knocked down and merchandise was toppled from store shelves. Manchester reported an undetermined number of chimneys down, one of which fell on a car . The community of West Union reported cracks in the block and concrete of the municipal building, constructed in 1974, and in Ripley the chimney was toppled on the John P. Parker house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. “
April 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
MBT, do you remember that “scientist” Irving Brown I think his name was? He thought he could predict the next big one.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
MBT - that really is scary!!! I had heard of a fault in the area and now that you mention it I remember hearing about the Mississippi flowing backward. Honestly, I just never paid that much attention to it.
I read that the reason they are downplaying the possibility of the New Madrid fault not being dormant is for building codes. I’m sure there is a lot of money invested in it NOT being an active fault. THAT is scary!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Bryan - have they EVER been able to predict an earthquake? It seems like there’s always somebody or the other saying they can! lol
I’m always surprised at people who think they have one iota of control over Mother Nature or Mother Earth in this case.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Bryan - no I don’t remember him. HOwever, many earthquakes are preceeded by animals going nuts: dogs barking, cows running, cats screaming, etc. It is believed that the quakes are preceeded by low frequency noise that we can’t hear. Elephants and other animals often use it to communicate, hence the strange behavior. If your animals start acting weird (more so than normal
) get out of the house and head to the hills… 
April 18th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I’m not an expert! I don’t even play one on tv!
April 18th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
oops- my blockquote tag didn’t unblock… sorry…
April 18th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Beth,
First of all, welcome aboard! I apologize for being so tardy with what should be common courtesy. I have been out of the country for most of this month.
Your posts are fantastic. I wonder where McCain found you. I am certain that you have been doing this for a while now.
Anyway, I have read about the great quake in 1812 and the implications of a similar event occurring today in that region are mind-boggling. It would make Katrina look like a tea party. The major cities in that region should take this as a wake up call and start to shore up their buildings and make damn certain that they are prepared (as best they can be) for that event.
Now, I will go clutch my bible and gun.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Speaking of sending a flow in the opposite direction, maybe we can arrange an earthquake along the Mexican border?
But people, please grow up. A little tremor happens and all hell breaks loose! You are acting like Californians driving in the snow.
Beth, sure they can predict earthquakes. I just read that the chance of of a 6.8++ earthquake happening in the next 40 years is now at 47% in Los Angeles. That specific enough for you?
April 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Can Ryan Howard hit any left handers anymore? I know it is OT but I had to ask.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
This Browning guy actually had some interesting theories of tidal forces, climate cooling and seismic activities. He actually predicted with accuracy the Mt. St Helens eruption, the Mexico City quake of 85 and the San Francisco quake of 89. I’m not sure if predicting is the right word, but he he identified high stress times when certain events were likely to happen. In fact, he predicted within a week that a large earthquake was likely to strike San Francisco. Thus he had some credence.
So, based upon his theories, he then predicted that there was a 50/50 chance of a 6.5 quake on the New Madrid fault in December of 1990. He created quite the hysteria, in fact people took their kids out of school and fled the area. Of course it never happened and he died about a year later. Just another bizarre episode from my youth.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
they actually can predict the number and strength of earthquakes fairly well, just not their location. check out “how nature works” by per bak … it is a cool and easy read on complexity theory …
http://www.amazon.com/How-Nature-Works-Self-Organized-Criticality/dp/038798738X
it got somewhat bad reviews because scientists think it is too readable, without enough mathematical rigor (or basically math really)
but if you ever what to know kinda sorta how the world works it is worth it
my father is a theoretical physicist and i’m his little girl so sue me
April 19th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
[...] really quite scary knowing that the New Madrid is starting to wake up, and it’s a scary fault to be near. This vibrating along multiple rifts means that it [...]
April 20th, 2008 at 4:02 am
McCain - Californians driving in the rain ain’t too pretty either!
April 21st, 2008 at 2:22 am
you must not have a life due to the fact that your writing is missing a few facts;they dont exspect another “big one” if you will;to happen for another 30-40 years;stop trying to scare everyone like its the end of the world.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:24 am
meredith - 30-40 years, next year or 100 years are very short geological time periods. There is no way anyone can predict with certainty when an earthquake will occur. All they can say is if it is due or not. The New Madrid is due. Whether it be next year or 200 years, it will “go off.”
I am taking the liberty of saying that the post was not meant to scare anyone. However, the issue of the New Madrid fault is one of public policy: buildings in the midwest are not built for earthquakes. The building shown above would not have been built in San Fransisco; gingerbread ornamentation is the first thing that comes down in a quake. They have been removed from old buildings in California. Midwest highway ramps, bridges, and so forth will come down in even a moderate quake. People in the midwest need to get a little scared and insist on earthquake-proofing the infrastructure.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
I heard recently of a very Godly man that said he had a strong dream/vision that if Obama keeps pushing for Isral and Palestine to split Isreal’s land the United States land would be split on the Madrid Fault. Many Christians have said they believe they are to store food for 30 days.
Be prepared for the summer